Houston Texans head coach Bill O'Brien believes that referees made the right call on Jadeveon Clowney's roughing the passer penalty in the team's Week 16 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Clowney was called for a crucial penalty late in the 32-20 loss in Philly, which allowed the Eagles to keep their drive going before eventually notching the game-winning field goal.
And while some weren't happy with the call when it happened, O'Brien feels like it was a call that was going to be made considering the language of the current rules.
Here's what O'Brien had to say about the penalty, courtesy of Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle:
“That crew is a good crew,” O'Brien said. “They communicate well with the sideline. His head was down. What they're ultimately trying to remove from the game is the position – I guess what you would call the pronated position where the head is down. They're really doing that for the safety of, not only player who's being hit, but also the player that's doing the hitting.
“So, I understand that. We just have to continue to coach it better. We do, we show – if you asked the players, every Saturday morning we show them clips from around the league on different calls that are made, and a lot of them have to do with that type of play. His head was down and that's just the way it was.”
Luckily, the Texans have still clinched a playoff berth at this point, even if their seeding is far from determined.
The best formula for locking up a higher seed is to win this week, and O'Brien's team will try to do just that when they host the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
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