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A few years ago, success would have been celebrated. Last year, it would have been a backpack.
But in 2018, as the NFL insisted that defenders not fall on the quarter with much force, Clay Matthews' third-quarter defeat of Alex Smith was very difficult.
As a result, the Redskins had to stay in the field. And for the second week in a row, Matthews has found himself at the center of a very controversial call.
"Unfortunately, this league is going in a direction that a lot of people do not like and I think they're going limp," said the veteran after Washington's victory over Green Bay (31-17). "I've been playing this game for over 20 years and that's how you tackle it."
Matthews is right. In a sport preoccupied with dirty or dangerous collisions, it sounds like an impeccable shot:
For the third week in a row, Clay Matthews is called to brutalize the smuggler. #Packers pic.twitter.com/c23sm3lpJF
– Mike Cianciolo (@MikeCianciolo) September 23, 2018
But the draft of the passing flag was not launched because of or Matthews hit Smith or when he hit it. The question, in the eyes of the officials, is the way he finished the sequence.
"I judged that the defender had landed on the quarter when he attacked him with all or part of his weight and this is not allowed," said the referee Craig Wrolstad after the fight . "It was basically my key, he landed on him with all or part of his body weight."
The person at the end of the not-so-funny exchange did not have a problem with it, though.
"It's hard," said Smith during his stint on FedEx Field's podium. "I'm happy not to play in defense, I felt like he was playing football, he played a long time, he hit me in the strike zone."
Smith was not the only one to speak in favor of Matthews either.
"What do you want the man to do?" Josh Norman (who actually has the same agent as Matthews) asked the reporters in the locker room of the house. "Like, seriously, What do you want the man to do? "
"When I saw it, there was no malicious and malicious intent," Norman continued. "I understand the rules of the situation, but at the same time, it's afraid to be a defender now, they hit your pockets and they hit you for a penalty."
The NFL is clearly trying to make itself safer, both smart and necessary. But his approach has been confusing in a few critical areas, and this part of the fight against fraud has temporarily outgrown the rule of thumbs and helmet rule as the most confusing of all.
After all, when the QB and the other opponents do not complain of a tackle but that the references and the wording of the rule do, there is a disconnect. The one that should be addressed.
"I think there's a gray area here that needs to be corrected," Smith observed.
For one interlocutor who was specific for much of the afternoon, this statement may have been the most punctual part of his day.
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