Lions center Dominic Raiola admitted after today’s blowout loss at New England that he purposely went at the knees of Patriots defensive tackle Zach Moore on the final play of the game.
Raiola said he was angry that the Patriots scored a late touchdown to go up 34-9 instead of just taking a knee. Raiola said his shot at Moore was retaliation.
“I cut him,” Raiola said, via the Detroit Free Press. “We took a knee, so I cut the nose [tackle]. They went for six. They went for a touchdown at two minutes. They could have took three knees and the game could have been over. It’s football. He wants to keep playing football, let’s play football. Not a big deal. It’s football.”
Raiola was not penalized, and he may not be fined, either. It’s not illegal for an offensive lineman to go low on a defensive lineman, as long as that defensive lineman isn’t also engaged up high and as long as the hit isn’t from behind. But the Patriots weren’t happy about it, and understandably so.
“I just heard what happened, but that was stupid,” Wilfork said. “I didn’t see it, but from what I heard . . . you’re taking a knee. They’d get mad if we were just to blow up one of their players, so I mean, it’s just uncalled for. But at the same time, you always have to protect yourself, so you always have to play with your neck on a swivel and being alert for 60 minutes, and it came down to it today on a bonehead play like that. But luckily no one got hurt and we can move on.”
Greg Schiano may not see anything wrong with trying to take out an opponent on a kneel-down play, but most NFL linemen will. Raiola was at the very least being unsportsmanlike. And by admitting it afterward, he was also being stupid.
