Why was Derwin James ejected? Chargers safety gets disqualified for vicious helmet-to-helmet hit

The Los Angeles Chargers were dealt a blow in their quest for a victory after safety Derwin James was disqualified from the game. The Chargers were leading 7-0 at that point, but his foul led to a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down. The drive culminated in the Colts cutting their lead down to 7-3.

This was the result of an egregious helmet-to-helmet hit on wide receiver Ashton Dulin. The brutality of the hit reverbated across the stadium. A flag was immediately thrown and on replay, it became clear that there were no mitigating circumstances. As both Dulin and James were taken for concussion evaluations to the medical tents, the referees called the penalty and threw the foul player out of the game.

Seen in slow motion from the video above, one could argue that Derwin James was harshly treated because his helmet first made contact with the shoulder pad before sliding up and hitting the helmet. As he was leaving the field, he seemed to gesture that as well.

Currently, however, the NFL is clamping down on anything that results in helmet-to-helmet contact, irrespective of where the initial contact was. The goal is to stop defensive players, or any player for that matter, lowering their head and leading with their helmet. With the specter of concussion a constant in football, it is something they desperately want to stamp out of the game.

What also made the tackle particularly nasty was that Dulin was a defenseless player. He had no chance of protecting himself when he was exposed to the brutal hit. There is every chance that he might not make it back onto the field because of the concussion protocol in the immediate and short term. So it is not surprising that Derwin James should also reap what he sowed and be out for at least a similar amount of time.

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Derwin James strayed dangerously close to disqualification earlier in the game as well

What made the tackle particularly dumbfounding was that Derwin James was close to automatic ejection a little while earlier in the game as well. He gave up a facemask penalty when he ripped off the helmet of opposing player Michael Pittman Jr.

At the time too, he was very close to initiating direct helmet contact. Perhaps the good news for the Los Angeles Chargers is that he is now out of the game because he crossed the line between aggressive and dirty in this game. A normally great player and a Pro-Bowl selection this year, it was not his best performance today.