The Philadelphia Eagles came up short against the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Wild Card Round. OF course, one of the more defining moments of the game came when quarterback Carson Wentz was knocked out with a head injury after being hit by defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.
Not only was Wentz knocked out of the game due to a spear to the back of the head from Clowney, but the hit did not even warrant a flag from the officials. Referee Shawn Smith says the reason being was that it was incidental contact, via Zach Berman of The Athletic:
“We didn’t deem it to be a foul,” Smith said.
“He was a runner, and he did not give himself up,” Smith said. “We saw incidental helmet contact, and in our judgement, we didn’t rule that to be a foul.”
Whether or not the officials felt it was illegal, there is no question that Clowney got Wentz on the back of the head and it resulted in a significant loss for Philadelphia once he was ruled out for the rest of the game. Meanwhile, Seattle clearly reaped the benefits by not being penalized en route to escaping with a 17-9 win.
Backup quarterback Josh McCown actually did a rather solid job of filling in by completing 18-of-24 passes for 174 yards, however, the lackluster offensive line and lack of firepower on the outside made it difficult for the Eagles to put any points on the board.
Regardless, the loss of Wentz for yet another playoff run in his young career is undoubtedly the most unfortunate aspect of the whole situation.
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