Not only was Clay Matthews penalized for his hit on Kirk Cousins last week, but the league decided to use him as an example of their rules to protect quarterbacks.
But on Friday, he said he was not fined for the hit, and if you’re a cynic you could view that as a tacit admission from the league that it may not have been such a big deal after all.
Via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com, Matthews said there was no financial penalty from the league for either his hit or his comments critical of officials for making the game-changing call.
The roughing the passer penalty wiped out what would have been a game-clinching interception by teammates Jaire Alexander. It was one of two such penalties called in the tie game, including one on Eric Kendricks of the Vikings.
“There’s a goal to limit these hits, but they’re pretty obvious when you see them — you know, a guy picking somebody up and full weight on them,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “What do you say to Clay? His head is out of it. His hand is on the ground. That’s not roughing the passer. Same thing with Kendricks. What do you say to him on that? I didn’t get up off the ground thinking, ‘Where’s the penalty?’ I saw a late flag and couldn’t believe there was a penalty on the play.”
The flag cost the Packers a win, but at least it didn’t cost Matthews any more money.
