For the second week in a row, Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews drew a roughing the passer penalty that sparked significant controversy.
On a second-and-7 in the third quarter with 1:50 left to play, Matthews broke free and sacked Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith, wrapping him up and landing on him. After Matthews took Smith to the turf, he raised his hands as he got up, as if he expected the play to be scrutinized by officials.
“Well, obviously, I don’t agree with it,” Matthews said after the game. “Again, last week I thought I hit the quarterback correctly. My head was to the side again, wrapped him up, and you see me as soon as I hit the ground, I tried to pull my hands out. Obviously, when you’re tackling a guy from the front, you’re going to land on him. I understand the spirit of the rule, I said that weeks prior, but when you have a hit like that, that’s a football play.”
Packers head coach Mike McCarthy was livid after the play, yelling at a couple of officials on the sideline. One tried to hold McCarthy back, but the coach followed a retreating field judge several yards down the field to shout at him.
“I thought Clay did exactly what he’s supposed to do there,” McCarthy said. “How that will be officiated, those are questions for other people. He hit him with his shoulder. He was coming full speed off of a block, he braced himself. So I was fine with what Clay did.”
Though the officiating crew called Matthews for roughing the passer, it didn’t indicate specifically what he did to draw the foul. The NFL tweaked language in the rule book that emphasized penalizing defenders who use their body weight when they land on quarterbacks after making tackles, similar to a play that resulted in a broken collarbone for Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers last year against the Vikings.
“I’ve never heard of anyone tackling somebody without any hands,” Matthews said. “When he gives himself up, as soon as you go on him, your body weight is going to go on him. I think we’re looking for the hit that took Aaron out last year. That little extra. If I wanted to hurt him, I could’ve. I could’ve put some extra on him. That’s football, so I don’t know.”
Last week, late in an eventual tie against the Vikings, Matthews was flagged for a hit on Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins, who threw an interception on the play. The flag nullified the turnover and kept the drive alive. Cousins and the Vikings eventually scored a touchdown that tied the game at 29.
“Unfortunately this league is going in a direction that I think a lot of people don’t like,” Matthews said. “I think they’re getting soft. The only thing hard about this league are the fines they levy down on guys like me who play the game hard. I don’t know. I’m just going to keep playing hard. Maybe now, when a pass rusher gets after the quarterback, he’s just going to have to attack the ball.”
Follow Lorenzo Reyes on Twitter @LorenzoGReyes.
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