For the second straight week, Clay Matthews and the Green Bay Packers have had a game ripped out of their hands by the men in black and white. This week might not have actually made the difference in the game but it was certainly a huge momentum shifter. As for last week against the Vikings, it absolutely cost the Packers a win and possibly a division title and home-field advantage in the playoffs depending on how things shake out through the remainder of the season. These calls have left players and coaches bewildered and fans, including myself, wondering where the line is.
<grammarly-btn>Personally, I am just as confused as Matthews about these two calls. After watching both of the replays multiple times it is so painfully obvious that the officials got it wrong here. I get that the league is making an effort to protect players and especially the quarterbacks but these calls are sending a different message. At this point, it appears that you can't hit the quarterback in any way that appears to be hard. Unfortunately, that is part of the deal when playing football. You are very likely to get hit hard and often. In their efforts to protect the quarterback, the league is crippling defensive players like never before. NFL football is a fast and furious game and it becomes much more difficult to make decisions at that speed when you are constantly second-guessing yourself or playing timid.
<grammarly-btn>So let's take a look at the matter at hand. There is an NFL rule that is designed to prevent quarterbacks from being tackled with unnecessary force. Unnecessary force is deemed as using more physical force than needed to bring the quarterback down. This prevents defensive players from slamming QB's to the turf or plowing them into the ground with their entire weight as if body slamming them. This is a call that the league has vowed to crack down on this season and the officials are taking it seriously. Some might say they are taking it too far and I am one of them.
<grammarly-btn>On both occasions, Clay Matthews was called for roughing the passer. The foundation of each call was that he slammed the quarterback into the turf with excessive force. Upon review of both plays, you can see that he does clearly fall on the quarterback but I don't feel as though there was an added effort to slam or excessively thrust the quarterback into the ground. In the first one against the Vikings, Matthews makes the hit with perfect timing and was actually extremely close to getting the sack on the play. When he hit Cousins, it was from the side and as they came to the ground Matthews falls more beside Cousins than on top of him. There was no effort to force him into the turf and he was almost able to continue rolling over him.
Against Alex Smith and the Redskins this week it was a much harder hit but it was still a clean football hit. Matthews had a clear path to the quarterback and Snith was still in full possession of the football. This is one of those hard football plays were in the end, there is going to be a big hit. Smith knew the hit was coming and tucked the ball to protect it. Matthews followed through with the hit and the momentum brought him down with Smith and he ended up on top of him but he did not make an extra effort to slam him. In fact, It looks as though he barely wraps him up completely in an effort to show he is not making that extra violent effort. If Matthews had wanted to, he could have absolutely devastated Smith with this hit but he didn't and he got penalized for it anyway.
As you can see in the above clip, both Matthews and Mike McCarthy are absolutely beside themselves. I'm not sure I have ever seen McCarthy so animated before. His utter disdain for the call is apparent as he verbally assaults the official afterwards. These are the kind of calls that can cost teams a season and this is two weeks in a row where the Packers organization feels that they have been robbed and rightfully so. The Packers now have a record of 1-1-1 when they could have been 3-0. Would they have come back and won the game on Sunday against the Redskins? We can't say for sure but the call all but sucked the life out of the Packers. Coaches jobs are lost over playoffs missed and the road to the playoffs just got a little bit harder and cheeseheads everywhere are looking for answers.
<grammarly-btn>What are your thoughts about the hits? Do you think the refs got it right or do you think the league is cracking down too hard on these hits? I look forward to hearing your opinions.
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