At least the league didn’t add insult to injury. Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews revealed on Friday that he wasn’t fined for the egregiously bogus roughing the passer call against the Vikings.
The call cost the Packers a victory and then the NFL and their dick head of officiating backed up referee Tony Corrente’s bullshit call. It would be a pile of crap if said game and call cost the Packers some home-field playoff advantage, wouldn’t it? But that’s what the league has set itself up for. And that’s a reality we will have to live with.
By not fining Matthews for the hit, the NFL has essentially admitted that, hell, maybe that wasn’t a foul?
Two of the league’s former VPs of officiating, Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino, disagreed that Matthews’ hit was a penalty. However, the league decided they were going to use that hit and the Eric Kendricks hit on Aaron Rodgers earlier in the game as teaching tools. In other words, you can’t do this. Frankly, both calls were bullshit.
“Friday we usually have video of plays throughout the league,” Matthews said. “It’s interesting they released it as of [Monday] trying to get ahead of this whole situation. I’ve heard me and Kendricks, our hits on the quarterback will be teaching tactics, but I mean every week this gets a little bit harder as far as what they’re asking us to do.”
Yeah, what they are asking defenders to do is essentially not hit the damn quarterback.
So what’s even the point of the edge rusher position? Might as well eliminate it.
Everyone has been on Matthews’ side. Earlier this week, even now-rival Khalil Mack backed Matthews. The coach of the team the Packers are playing this week, Washington’s Jay Gruden, backed Matthews. He had this to say.
“These guys are big men,” Gruden said, “and they’re going at a high level of speed. To ask them to contort their bodies in the spur of the fraction of a second, sometimes it’s hard. You’re trying to wrap up mobile guys like Aaron Rodgers or big guys like Cam Newton or Carson Wentz, you’re putting these guys in a pickle.
“It’s just a tough deal but it’s something that we have to continue to monitor and coach and do the best we can.”
Aaron Rodgers also backed Matthews. Earlier this week he said he didn’t like the way the rules are going. He also said the flag on Kendricks was BS.
“What do you say to Clay? His head is out of it. His hand is on the ground. That’s not roughing the passer. Same thing with Kendricks. What do you say to him on that? I didn’t get up off the ground thinking, ‘Where’s the penalty?’ I saw a late flag and couldn’t believe there was a penalty on the play,” Rodgers said.
What do you say to anyone? It’s obvious that the NFL is worried about people not playing football, but isn’t the point of playing football so you can hit another person?
That’s not the only point, but football is a contact sport. That’s the game. Stop trying to make it another game, you dumb fucks.