ESPN- The NFL doubled down on Clay Matthews' much-debated roughing-the-passer penalty and said Monday that not only was it the correct call, but it will be used on a teaching tape sent to teams.
The Green Bay Packers linebacker was penalized in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 29-29 tie with the Minnesota Vikings for what referee Tony Corrente said was a foul because "he lifted [Kirk Cousins] and drove him into the ground." The penalty wiped out a potential game-clinching interception in the final minutes of regulation. A league source reiterated Monday that the "technique of grabbing the passer from behind the leg or legs, scooping and pulling in an upward motion, is a foul." ------- Speaking as someone that has reached the acceptance stage of the NFL's latest moronically subjective rule change, I must admit that I actually love this response. With the damage having already been done, by erasing an interception and granting the Vikings' new life in a game they soon after went on to tie, why not double and triple down on forbidding one of football's most fundamental acts? The alternative course of action would be the issuing of some lame, halfhearted apology that wouldn't even be accepted by pissed off Packers' players, coaches, and fans that can't compute that Aaron Rodgers' injury (and his reaction to it) is what's predominantly responsible for the change to make quarterbacks untouchable. Therefore, the league might as well remain stubborn and give themselves a leg to stand on in an argument on behalf of a vague, ever-changing rulebook that no one fully understands. There's no chance they put that much thought into it, as the NFL has the foresight of a bird rapidly approaching a glass house, but there's something inherently hilarious about the powers that be looking at a call that almost everyone agrees is dead wrong and claiming that it's actually the most right. Admittedly, it's a little concerning that wrapping up a quarterback in the most basic and literal sense possible, is now punishable by 15 yards. However, nothing says "shut up and deal with it" quite like taking a universally chastised penalty and editing it into an instructional video in which some condescending blowhard who has never put on a pair of cleats dissects it frame by frame. You want to get mad that the NFL is slowly killing a contact sport that, in its current form, will never not be extremely dangerous? By all means, but you might as well get allllll that anger out now because the preposterous precedent is about to officially be set by the NFL's production team.
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9/24/2022 06:56:34 am
The NFL defended the decision to eject Clay Matthews from the game after he hit Davante Adams in the head with a shoulder. They said that it was too close to the play and that they were going to include it in their instructional video. This will help referees to know that they need to be more strict with players who are trying to injure players on the field.
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