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The San Francisco 49ers' win over the Los Angeles Chargers was marred by an ugly incident during the game. In the second quarter of the game, linebacker Dre Greenlaw drilled Justin Herbert with a nasty accidental helmet-to-helmet hit. The LA QB was dazed after the play, and Greenlaw was ejected, much to the shock of many fans.
After the game, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan talked at length about Dre Greenlaw's ejection. The coach said that the ejection “blew his mind”, as he though “intent to harm” was needed for a player to be ejected. Nonetheless, San Francisco escaped with a win even without Greenlaw. (via The Athletic)
“It kind of actually blew my mind,” Shanahan said of the ejection. “I understand the penalty. I totally get that … because I think he did hit his helmet… But I thought there had to be intent (for an ejection) and that was a big play right there for us (49ers) to lose Greenlaw for the whole game off of that. That’s huge. That really shocked me.”
Shanahan did admit that the helmet-to-helmet hit, regardless of intent, deserved a penalty. Still, many have backed Shanahan in his confusion on the decision. After all, Greenlaw seemingly had no time to avoid hitting Justin Herbert in the head. Based on the videos, it seemed like there was no intent for the 49ers linebacker to injure Herbert.
Perhaps the Tua Tagovailoa injury scare two months ago have caused NFL referees to crack down on blows to the head. Protecting players is highly important, of course. However, if it starts to come at the expense of defenders trying to do their job… then that becomes a problem. The 49ers at least still won the game despite the questionable call.
