Science

NFL Receiver‘s Mocked ’Flop’ Scientifically Found to Be a Fraud — Really

If you haven‘t seen the footage of the Bengals’ Jerome Simpson making a dramatic both-feet-in-the-air flop backward after what seems like a relatively light shove by the Browns’ Scott Fujita, you should. The shove and subsequent flop earned the Browns a 15-yard penalty and sent NFL fans up the wall over Simpson faking it.

Here’s the footage:

Watch closely a few times and you’ll see the shove happens just after Simpson pulled Fujita out of the pile. Here’s just a snip-it of what the Twittersphere is saying:

Was Jerome Simpson's Flop a Fake?

Was Jerome Simpson's Flop a Fake?Was Jerome Simpson's Flop a Fake?

Was Jerome Simpson's Flop a Fake?

And although it may seem pretty obvious to some that Simpson may have taken a few acting lessons, one physicist at Southeastern Louisiana University thought he could help confirm or refute such allegations. Rhett Allain reviews the momentum, velocity, and torque that would have been involved in the encounter for Wired.com. Here’s what he found:

Clearly Fujita is a Jedi and using the Force to push Simpson.

So, I guess that means Simpson is a faker, or like Allain says, Fujita is a Jedi, which is less likely. Here’s how Allain figured it out from a scientific perspective, acknowledging that the data he reviews isn’t exact. If Fujita pushed Simpson, conservation of momentum should have occurred. And Allain doesn’t believe by his calculations that this happened.

Did Jerome Simpson fake flop?

Rhett Allain says that conservation of momentum should apply if Fujita in fact pushed Simpson. (Image: Allain via Wired)

First, Allain points out that it appears Fujita’s feet are off the ground during most of the encounter, which shows that horizontal momentum should be conserved, unless of course Simpson is pushing back:

The momentum before and after the “altercation” would be the same if you ignore the players pushing on the ground. For gravity, you can just look at the changes in momentum in the horizontal direction. Gravity doesn’t pull this way, so it wouldn’t have any effect on the horizontal momentum.

Did Jerome Simpson fake flop?

Fujita's feet in the air. (Image: Allain via Wired)

This factor comes into play when Allain considers the players’ weights and velocity of Simpson moving toward Fujita before getting pushed. When plugged into an equation, these factors reveal that horizontal momentum is not conserved. He says suggests the following options for why this is:

  • Fujita was pushing on the ground (giving an external force) during the interaction. This doesn’t seem all too likely since he was not touching the ground the whole time.
  • Fujita is a Jedi Knight and using THE FORCE to push Simpson back. The Force (you know, from midi-clorians) could be strong with this one.
  • Simpson is a big faker. He pushes off the ground to make it look like Fujita body slammed him.

Allain says that since the change in momentum of Fujita was nearly zero, then the change in momentum of Simpson had to have been caused by the force Fujita exerted against Simpson by pushing against the ground and the ground against him. Allain estimates that Fujita’s feet were only on the ground for about 0.3 seconds during the encounter and looking at several factors including Simpson’s change in momentum, friction of the ground and cleats estimates that for conservation of momentum to occur Fujita would need to have had an equal but opposite change in momentum. But, he does not.

Allain also looked at torque and angular momentum, saying that if Fujita had pushed Simpson, we would have seen him falling backward a bit after the shove himself. But if you take another look at the video, he seems pretty upright.

For more of in depth technical detail (including equations), check out Allain’s piece at Wired.

Comments (100)

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  • ttbone
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 6:45pm

    And… What does this have to do with an NFL player flopping?

    Report Post »  
  • Ookspay
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 6:39pm

    Off topic Ian. You are exactly why Ron Paul gets so little support. You Paulistinians are just plain wacky… I bet you would go to a funeral for the sole purpose of collecting a debt from one of the mourners. I like Ron paul, but you kooks make me think that I must be missing something…

    Report Post » Ookspay  
  • rs9
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 6:19pm

    No puthing said the new castrati

    Report Post »  
  • Maximus_Delta
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 6:11pm

    The ref wasnt even looking that way…

    Report Post » Maximus_Delta  
  • sillyfreshness
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 6:09pm

    Obviously it was racism. That whitey pushed him just because he was black. There needed to be some extra yardage penalty for being a racist hate monger. It‘s not racist to fake it though if you’re the black dude since the other guy was white. That’s okay and not racist.

    Report Post » sillyfreshness  
  • sapper
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:50pm

    for real? You people are really surprised or upset by this? REALLY? When I played high school football one of my jobs was kicker. Small team and I was also offensive and defensive lineman but as kicker I once had a guy “rough” me up after the kick was off. I took the hit standing up and didn’t go down….my head coach berated me afterward about how you are supposed to go down anytime you get touched after the kick is off. I told him the guy didn’t hit me that hard and I was told to….guess what……FAKE IT! He told me that is part of the gamesmanship of football and that if I was hit late the guy deserved the penalty anyway and from now on go down regardless. Stuff like this happens regularly, you just don’t see it because A: the refs can tell the difference usually and B: the camera usually follows the ball and cuts away from the QB or kicker before you see the hit. I have no doubt the guy will reap what he sows and someone will return the favor on another day. It’s all part of the game.

    Report Post »  
    • Rowgue
      Posted on November 30, 2011 at 6:53pm

      That’s a little different to be honest. Running into the kicker is a penalty, he’s just telling you to make sure the officials see it.

      What this guy did was completely fake something that never occured. And beside that he’s the one that should have been flagged for dragging the other guy out of the pile by his feet.

      Report Post »  
    • LastAmerican
      Posted on November 30, 2011 at 7:05pm

      I’ve seen kickers do exactly what sappers talking about. This really is a non story.

      Report Post »  
    • CrazyRabbit
      Posted on November 30, 2011 at 8:23pm

      Yea, it’s not really the same. Making sure the Ref sees and obvious penalty like roughing the kicker and totally inventing getting knocked the hell over is different. Apples n oranges type O’ thing. He pulls this guy out by his feet then bumps/gets in his way and then when the guy barely put’s his hands on him he goes flying like he just got nailed by a runaway locomotive. Sure I see what your saying that it’s common. And coaches may even push for it. But does that make it right? Shouldn’t players AND coaches be called out for that and this crap stopped?

      Report Post »  
    • No_Comment
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 4:46am

      With Kickers its different, they had to come up with a rule to protect them as if not, they would be targets and would probably be taken out of the game fast with a well placed hit on his leg(s). The defense is trained on how to go for the ball and not the kicker, if you hit him then your flagged, simple enough. Having someone piss off a guy on purpose, so that he can do a move he practiced to draw a penalty, or a guy flop on the ground with a fake injury is different. There have been things done like spitting in the face of players to get them to react, or name calling etc. since the beginning, but this stuff is way to obvious. The biggest issue is really the wussification of the game by the refs trying to protect the high dollar players. Sick of seeing good solid hits on players that get flagged, and on top of that, the inconsistancy of the refs with the next play, not calling something even worse than what they just called. Whats next, a new ref position called the Bobo patrol ? Oooo.. your bobo is to bad, you can’t play anymore today ! lol

      Report Post »  
    • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 9:13am

      Exactly! It is entertainment and nothing but. It‘s everyone’s job to entertain and if that means faking a shove, then so be it. It’s been happening since football has been televised.

      Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
  • narcan1
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:46pm

    somebody is watching to much soccer

    Report Post »  
  • The BRAIN
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:36pm

    Suh is suffering the same perception problem. They WAY overblew the last episode that cost him. If you actually look at the replay the same way (scientifically) you can see he was being held onto and was desperately trying to EXTRICATE himself from the tangle and not trying to abuse the other player. Poor perception plays a huge part in all this baloney. NFL is turning into pro wrestling. What a waste.

    Report Post » The BRAIN  
    • Rowgue
      Posted on November 30, 2011 at 7:05pm

      Lol yeah okay. Sorry calls are blown but the Suh thing was not one of them and he doesn’t have some undeserved reputation. He was frustrated and he took a cheap shot at somebody, it‘s what he’s done since he came into the league. When he gets frustrated he just starts looking for somebody to take a cheap shot on. He’s the goon on a hockey team that pointlessly gets in a fight because him acting like a buffoon is somehow supposed to magically make his team more talented.

      Report Post »  
    • mike_trivisonno
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:14pm

      Is Suh a muslim?

      Report Post » mike_trivisonno  
  • MarinerDaddy
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:18pm

    So why do NFL officials call penalties on things that they clearly do not see?

    Report Post » MarinerDaddy  
    • RaidersImperium
      Posted on November 30, 2011 at 7:54pm

      we Raiders fans have been saying that for 50 years! aside from being the most penalized team, we missed going to 5 more Super Bowls due to last minute calls or no-calls. Tuck this, Brady!

      Report Post »  
  • EPROM
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:18pm

    Lesson Learned: Don’t shove another player (after the play) regardless of how light it is done. …It’s just not worth the risk.

    Report Post » EPROM  
  • T-2
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:15pm

    Scott Fujita is a white ninja.

    Report Post »  
    • tersky
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 8:41am

      Is he white? Fujita is a Japanese name.

      Report Post »  
    • T-2
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 3:26pm

      his adopted father is Japanese descent

      Report Post »  
  • ttbone
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:15pm

    So the NFL is trying to be more like the NBA or worse…soccer

    Report Post »  
  • No_Comment
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:14pm

    Simple fix, Fine him or anyone who fakes injuries or does something like this to get a penalty, enough so it hurts. And or suspend him a game, Fining him and maybe the coach or owner enough and you wont see it happen much again. The NFL is becoming a joke though, they might as well put flags on the QB’s and wide receivers and say for them, its flag football, as you can’t hardly go a week now without seeing one or a few dumb ref calls “Protecting” the player. I love the NFL, but this stuff is killing it, and don’t get me started on this stupid kickoff rules they started this year!

    Report Post »  
    • Rowgue
      Posted on November 30, 2011 at 7:17pm

      They started calling embelishment penalties in the NHL at one point. If you were clearly embelishing they would actually call the penalty on the flopper for embelishment. They did away with it because they determined there was too much subjectivity involved in judging whether somebody is overreacting to something. Cases like this are obvious, but once you have the rule the line between what seems legitimate and what might be fake can be mighty tough to determine.

      Report Post »  
    • jwcoopusa
      Posted on November 30, 2011 at 8:50pm

      I agree. Fine him. And fine the official for calling something he obviously didn’t see. NFL officials are making a lot of phantom calls (concerning incidents which are not reviewable) and there is no consequence for their incompetence……..or corruption, as it may be. Too many folks are getting paid way too much in the NFL, and they need to be held responsible for travesties like this……………..

      Report Post » jwcoopusa  
  • Jeff Bassett
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:11pm

    Its very common in European soccer / football to take the fake falls for a foul call by the referee. Sad to see the Bengals have decided to incorporate such into American football now. Congratulations to the Bengals for lowering the integrity of the game to the drama of Euro football. What a wuss that Bengal player Jerome Simpson must be to have to resort to that.

    Report Post »  
  • whatthecrazy
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:08pm

    Uh im confused, what did i miss and is this info going to get bho out of the white house if not hurry tell me what will……………sorry all these crappy calls from the reffs make me not want to watch anymore, besides learning how to survive tribulation is keeping me sorta busy these days…………………

    Report Post »  
  • paulusmaximus
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:04pm

    Bad calls on the Browns? surprise! surprise!

    Report Post » paulusmaximus  
  • Barack Oburgundy
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:01pm

    I think the browns player acted stupidly. It was obviously a racist gesture for the white guy to horrendously attack the poor african american victim. That’s whats wrong with our nation… Whitey is always holding the brother down.

    Now let’s all go back to the White House (Racist name by the way), have a few beers, and listen to Biden tell some more racist jokes !!!! Then we can listen to Michelle preach to us about eating healthy while she stuffs her pie hole with more ice cream…chocolate of course :).

    Report Post » Barack Oburgundy  
  • Southernsoul
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 4:56pm

    Further proof of the wuzzification of the NFL.

    Report Post » Southernsoul  
  • ZAP
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 4:56pm

    Is she a ******?

    Report Post » ZAP  
  • blaaaaackwoman
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 4:54pm

    Good call. If you don‘t want a penalty don’t start shoving after the whistle blows. That guy who did the shoving must be as dumb as Forest Gump while the guy falling backwards is obviously the smarter of the two dumbells.

    Report Post »  
    • 13th Imam
      Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:16pm

      The difference is , the next player that gets a shot at the bad actor, will just take him out the first hit. Can’t wait for the film of Bart being carted off the field. Then he can get on with his lifetime career, saying “Fries With That???”

      Report Post » 13th Imam  
    • RantNationDotCom
      Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:16pm

      The guy who shoved him was reacting to being pulled from the bottom of the pile by his leg.

      Report Post » RantNationDotCom  
    • Rowgue
      Posted on November 30, 2011 at 7:22pm

      You must have missed the part where the idiot that faked getting shoved first dragged the other player across the field by his feet.

      Report Post »  
  • burnteye86
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 4:53pm

    It didn’t take science to see that was fake.

    Report Post » burnteye86  
  • TRONINTHEMORNING
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 4:52pm

    cool gloria, can i have your number and i’ll call ya right away…NOT…Loser.

    Report Post »  
  • KickinBack
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 4:49pm

    Too funny! Now if this were hockey, you’d get the crap beat out of you for “diving”.

    Report Post » KickinBack  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on November 30, 2011 at 4:53pm

      Indeed.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • wireme
      Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:01pm

      no no hockey players do it all the time and the refs fall for it thats why the NHL is a joke of a league its the coolest game on earth I love hockey but the acting has to go they make the refs look like fools and they don’t need any help they already are fools I hate the NHL for this they just refuse to confront it

      Report Post »  
  • Mahakala
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 4:48pm

    That crap has no place in football, at least real football. I hope the NFL fines his butt.

    Report Post » Mahakala  
  • Rayblue
    Posted on November 30, 2011 at 4:47pm

    Jack Flash predicted this.

    Report Post » Rayblue  
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