Add Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino to the lengthy list of people who say Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews’ roughing the passer penalty on Kirk Cousins was nonsense.
Both formerly served as the league’s head of officiating. Both now work for FOX as rules analysts. Both say the play wasn’t a penalty.
“Those are not fouls. We don’t like those as fouls,” Blandino said on their weekly show, Last Call.
Pereira said he believes the league is “creating penalties for contact and tackles… that don’t put the quarterback at risk of injury.”
“I think we’re setting a dangerous precedent,” Pereira continued. “You can’t have [Matthews’ hit] as a foul. There’s got to be a line drawn closer to a more violent hit.”
Current head of officiating Al Riveron maintains Matthews’ hit and one by Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks on Aaron Rodgers will be used as examples of what not to do. Riveron says that the calls — both penalties — were called correctly.
Matthews was visibly upset after the game, saying “I have so many emotions running through as far as what a terrible call it was. At the same time, I don’t know what else to do. I don’t know. You let me know. You tell me. Did I put pressure on him? I thought I hit him within his waist to chest, I got my head across, put my hands down. To call it at that point in the game is unbelievable.”
Coach Mike McCarthy defended Matthews on Monday.
“He did what he was coached to do. He tries to brace, the weight distribution,” McCarthy said.
“They (the referees) saw it differently.”
Blandino said he doesn’t know what the league expects pass rushers to do.
“You look at the rule, and it says you can’t commit intimidating or punishing acts. You can’t violently or unnecessarily drive him to the ground or land on him with all or most of your body weight,” Blandino said. “That’s not what you’re seeing in at least two calls in that game. What do you want the defender to do? To me, it looks like he’s wrapping, and he’s trying to bring the quarterback to the ground. There is going to be some force. There is going to be some impetus that takes both players to the ground. Again, what do you want the defender to do in that situation?”
Yes, NFL. What do you want the defender to do? This protecting the quarterback stuff is out of hand.
Just saw an ad for a Lawrence Taylor special on the NFL channel and every sack they showed LT make would be a Roughing Penalty in today shitty NFL!!
Add Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino to the lengthy list of people who say Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews’ roughing the passer penalty on Kirk Cousins was nonsense.
Well Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino, someone who posts as “Killer” will tell you that you are both full of shit. So there, you got that going for you.
You new here Mitch? Don’t ever mention that name or reply to any of that person you mentioned posts. He’s a Viking fan and jacks off while posting on this site. Complete idiot. I have started the ignore and don’t reply campaign, maybe in 7 or 8 years he’ll get the message.
For every 1 person who thinks that was a legit penalty, you have 10,000 people who say that was a bs penalty.
Sometimes people will take a certain position, just to bring attention to themselves. trying to fill an otherwise empty life.
This^^^. Doubling down on controversy, like my nephew that “hates” chocolate. Sure you do kid, but it draws you some much needed attention.
Carey12 hours ago
As a Vikings fan I think the NFL either needs to rethink the whole roughing the passer scoop rule or put a flag on each hip of the quarterback and use flag football rules for them.
Gary12 hours ago
I’m a Vikings fan, but I’m more of a fan of football. That hit should not have been a penalty. It seems the NFL is doing their best to make the game unwatchable.
I’ll go one more….
McGravy should be speaking out against this. If nothing more than showing support for Mathews and the team, and the integrity of the game. Yea, he might get fined…..so what, i think he can afford it. Somethings are more important than money.
Could you imagine the media coverage if Mathews retired over this? I’ll bet cash money the thought has crossed his mind.
I agree MM should be more outspoken. I wonder if someone on the team is making MM reluctant to speak out.
MM knows he may have to go to that person to get a ruling over Gutekunst or Ball. MM needs to keep on the good side of Mark Murphy.
Murphy is on the NFL competition committee. I believe this rule change along with all rule changes goes through the competition committee before being voted on by the team owners.
I have to wonder how much input Murphy had in this rule change, causing MM to be hesitant to take a strong stance.
Murphy has caused problems with the NFL players association when he was a player rep. Murphy let the Packers fall into decay from his inaction. I can’t prove it, but it would not suprise me if Murphy had a big hand in this rule change. Murphy was not satisfied with damaging the Packers. Murphy must also damage and change the game of football.
Damn Howard, that blew me away, i didn’t even think of any of that. True or not, that is next level thinking my friend.
This bullshit would make me stop watching football. Not people kneeling for the anthem. This is changing the game in a bad way. I am sorry, but Aaron Rodgers injury opened up a whole new can of worms that should have been left alone
My thoughts exactly. Maybe we should just ask the refs before the game who is gonna win. It would save us all 3 hours of our time. I didn’t watch the game in real time on Sunday which I always do. Instead, I rode my bike and went to the beach. I would have no problem replacing the NFL’s BS with something like that every week.
This ^^^^
I agree, flag football for the QB. You know there’s no way for officials to be consistent on the roughing the passer call. Like touch football but only on the QB. I know that would really suck, but how can the NFL resolve this? That shitty call on Matthews screwed the game for us.
The portion of the rulebook devoted to roughing the passer (Rule 12, Section 2, Article 9) says in part that: “A rushing defender is prohibited from committing such intimidating and punishing acts as ‘stuffing’ a passer into the ground or unnecessarily wrestling or driving him down after the passer has thrown the ball …” Among other things, the technique of grabbing the passer from behind the leg(s), scooping and pulling in an upward motion is considered a foul.
Per the NFL….. and all I have to say is wtf. Cousins leg was up in the air…. It is disappointing because Matthews tackle is a perfect form tackle, what I was taught when I was in pee wee through high school
It is also a merciful tackle. Watch closely as Mathews LETS UP once he has Cousins in the grasp. Mathews
appears to be trying to AVOID a roughing call.
Yeah, I saw the same thing. I honestly wouldnt even care about this anymore if the NFL admitted to making a mistake on this call so that this doesnt affect a bigger game down the line that may not even be the packers
Kato…i would not be shocked in the least if a memo, or an e-mail was leaked stating from someone that the NFL wanted QB’s to be hands off in 2-3 years, wearing the red jersey or whatever. It seems they are weening themselves towards that end.
Someone mentioned in a post, might have been Cheese, that this makes him want to quit watching if it wasn’t for Rodgers. That’s exactly how i feel with this, and all the other bullshit.
It’s not about the game anymore, were almost always talking about drama surrounding the game these days.
Now some HOF’ers want to boycott any future HOF business if they don’t receive an annual salary. The NFL is turning into a huge soap opera.
I find the call repugnant. Text book tackle IMMEDIATELY after ball thrown. Matthews let up on the take down and was clearly attempting to avoid any controversy with the tackle. Ever since this fucktard Goodell has taken over, the NFL has changed from a sport to a growing multi-national corporation in marketing, response and action. Whatever makes them more money WILL OVER-RIDE any sensible argument or fact regarding football play. Fuck the fans . . . but covet their money. Short sighted and greed driven to say the least . . .