For the third time this season, Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews was flagged for a roughing-the-passer penalty when he tried to sack Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith in the third quarter of Sunday’s game at FedEx Field.
Following the game, Matthews spoke with reporters and conveyed the same thought many fans have with regards to a new rule that aims to protect quarterbacks from further harm at the hands of opposing defensive players.
Via ESPN:
“Unfortunately this league's going in a direction I think a lot of people don't like. I think they're getting soft,” Matthews said. “The only thing hard about this league is the fines they levy down on guys like me who play the game hard.”
This hasn’t been the first time that Clay Matthews spoke critically about the updated roughing-the-passer rule. Back in Week 2, Matthews was called for the same infraction during a crucial moment in a game against the Minnesota Vikings. Matthews said that such penalties have gone “out of control.”
The NFL is being criticized heavily by fans and players alike for the enforcement of such rule that greatly takes away the innate violence of the sport, which also happens to be one of football’s best-selling points.
In any case, Matthews has no option but to learn and accept that this is how the game he’s played for almost all his life has become.
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