GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The NFL doubled down on Clay Matthews' much-debated roughing-the-passer penalty and said Monday that not only was it the correct call, but it will be used on a teaching tape sent to teams.
The Green Bay Packers linebacker was penalized in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 29-29 tie with the Minnesota Vikings for what referee Tony Corrente said was a foul because "he lifted [Kirk Cousins] and drove him into the ground." The penalty wiped out a potential game-clinching interception in the final minutes of regulation.
A league source reiterated Monday that the "technique of grabbing the passer from behind the leg or legs, scooping and pulling in an upward motion, is a foul."
Matthews on Sunday called it "a terrible call" and said, "I don't know what else to do." He was not privy to Corrente's explanation at the time of his postgame comments.
"The worst part is, we'll probably send it in, and you know what they're going to say?" Matthews said after the game. "They'll find fault on me because they're going to agree with the refs."
Packers linebacker Antonio Morrison said that even the tapes the NFL sends out aren't always clear.
"They're trying to send us out tapes," Morrison said. "The solution is to let us play football. Quarterbacks, they've got on pads, they've got on a helmet, too. I know they make a lot of money, but this is all men in the sport. We can't treat one man like a princess and the other man as if we need to respect that princess. I see it as every dog should be equal. If you've got on pads and a helmet, it's all go. I can understand the hitting in the helmet, I agree with that 100 percent. But this is tough."
The Green Bay Packers linebacker was penalized in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 29-29 tie with the Minnesota Vikings for what referee Tony Corrente said was a foul because "he lifted [Kirk Cousins] and drove him into the ground." The penalty wiped out a potential game-clinching interception in the final minutes of regulation.
A league source reiterated Monday that the "technique of grabbing the passer from behind the leg or legs, scooping and pulling in an upward motion, is a foul."
Matthews on Sunday called it "a terrible call" and said, "I don't know what else to do." He was not privy to Corrente's explanation at the time of his postgame comments.
"The worst part is, we'll probably send it in, and you know what they're going to say?" Matthews said after the game. "They'll find fault on me because they're going to agree with the refs."
Packers linebacker Antonio Morrison said that even the tapes the NFL sends out aren't always clear.
"They're trying to send us out tapes," Morrison said. "The solution is to let us play football. Quarterbacks, they've got on pads, they've got on a helmet, too. I know they make a lot of money, but this is all men in the sport. We can't treat one man like a princess and the other man as if we need to respect that princess. I see it as every dog should be equal. If you've got on pads and a helmet, it's all go. I can understand the hitting in the helmet, I agree with that 100 percent. But this is tough."
