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Loyalty among defensive players creates strange allies. Consider earlier this week, when new linebacker Khalil Mack, from outside the Bears, defended Clay Matthews from rival Packers.
"Are you talking about the Clay Matthews game?" Said Mack this week. "These things are regrettable."
With 1:37 remaining on Sunday, Matthews was whistled for brutalizing the smuggler when he fired Kirk Cousins of the Vikings. The quarterback pass was intercepted and the Packers, 29-21, apparently won. The game came back because of the penalty.
Referee Tony Corrente told reporters the pool after Matthews "lifted [Cousins] Corrente added that the flag had nothing to do with the League's new orientation throughout the League, which penalized players who had landed on a quarter with their total weight.
Clay Matthews was charged with assaulting the smuggler on Sunday. | Photo AP
"You play that game at a high level and … Clay, I know he's playing at a high level," said Mack about Matthews, who was tried for a fourth-quarter penalty on Mitch Trubisky. "And he just wants to do this game for his team.
"But even then, you have to be smart in some situations. But this particular game is a game that referees have to look into. "
At a time when the NFL rules to make sport safer were becoming more and more confusing, Matthews' flag – even if it was not the result of a new emphasis – caught the attention of the defenders. of the league. Defenders already believe, rightly, that rules are in place to protect the offense.
"Your instinct is to play the right game," said Mack. "I feel like [Matthews] did everything he could to make the right game – kept his head out of reach – but I felt that it was a perfect tackle.
Defensive end Akiem Hicks is still trying to determine the rule of body weight. The league decided to insist that the defenders could not land on a quarter with their total weight. The league has therefore launched five flags in the first week.
"I think it's a difficult situation to put defensive line players and external linebackers – it's like our reward for getting there," Hicks said Thursday. It's our reward for defeating our offensive linemen, and it's driving the quarterback into the ground as hard as we want.
"I understand it's a league led by quarters and you have to protect the guy who delivers the ball, but where is our treatment?"
Coach Matt Nagy said the officials "did a good job" explaining the details of their new focus when they visited the Bears at the Bourbonnais training camp. The officials showed videos of what to do – and what not to do. When the Bears were scarred for the pre-season body weight rule, Nagy said the officials have detailed the reasons why.
Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said the rules are clear and the Bears usually follow them. They have only one defensive penalty this season – for five yards – after scoring 33 goals for 320 yards in the league. Their yards were the third-lowest NFL finish last year.
"We do not want penalties, so we try to get our players to school according to the rules," he said. "But I understand that the rule is one thing, but knowing how each official will arbitrate is something else.
"What a guy calls a week, if the same thing happens next week, he may not be called. All the little individualities of the officials are the part that becomes worrying. "
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