Clay Matthews NFL is getting soft with p

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Remember a few weeks ago when the big concern ahead of the regular season was NFL officials overzealously enforcing the new helmet rule? After a rocky preseason that included plenty of questionable flags we've heard next to nothing about it since. But those concerns have been  Axel Andersson Kids Jersey replaced by something much more sinister: Roughing-the-pa ser penalties. Public Enemy No. 1: . In back-to-back games, the pa s rusher has been flagged twice for what amounts to form-tackling the wrong guy. In Week 2, :   Do not hit quarterbacks high. Do not hit quarterbacks low. Do not hit them in the midriff. Roughing the pa ser on Clay Matthews.  Ollie Connolly (@OllieConnolly)  Not to be outdone, on Sunday Matthews .   Roughing the pa ser. Clay Matthews may actually kill a referee at this point  Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn)  Yes, we know what Rule 12, Section 2, Article 9 (b) says: "A defensive player must not unnece sarily or violently throw (a pa ser) down or land on top of him with all or most of the defender's weight. Instead, the defensive player must strive to wrap up the pa ser with the defensive player's arms and not land on the pa ser with all or most of his body  Charlie Mcavoy Kids Jersey weight." Fine. It's ridiculous because, you know, this is tackle football, but fine. The i sue is that the rule isn't applied consistently. In , was on the receiving in of a Daron Payne bellyflop:     Daron Payne.BANG.If you're going to take down a QB, take him down hard. That's his first career sack.  Chad Ryan (@ChadwikoRCC)  No flag. There are other examples from Sunday. Here's :   This was not flagged as a penalty FYI  Alex Gelhar (@AlexGelhar)  And :   Seattle brought its pa s rush today. This one was not a body weight penalty, apparently  Ollie Connolly (@OllieConnolly)  After the Packers lost to the , referee Craig Wrolstad explained his decision to flag Matthews  More on the NFL "That was basically my key -- that Matthews landed on him with most or all of his body weight," Wrolstad told a pool reporter. "But if you've got a shoulder into him and then landed on him with most of his body weight off him or released him when he went down, then he would have been OK. But in my judgment, I Torey Krug Men Jersey  ruled that he landed on him with most or all of his body weight there."Former referee Ed Hochuli agrees, telling Pro Football Talk that Matthews' tackle was a of roughing the pa ser. Again, fine. But how should a defender tackle the quarterback in that situation?   Because Matthews took two steps before getting to Smith, according to Hochuli, he should hit him and roll to the side so as to land on the ground and not on the quarterback. Uh huh. Matthews,  Jeremy Lauzon Jersey as you might expect, disagrees. "Obviously when you're tackling a guy from the front you're gonna land on him," Matthews said after the game. "I understand the spirit of the rule, I said that weeks prior. But when you have a hit like that, that's a football play. ... "Unfortunately this league's going in a direction I think a lot of people don't like," Matthews said. "I think they're getting soft. The only thing hard about this league is the fines they levy down on guys like me who play the game hard."   Even Smith, who somehow took Matthews' body weight and survived, . "It's tough," he said. "I'm glad I don't play defense ... I felt like he's playing football.  Tuukka Rask Men Jersey He's played a long time. He hit me right in the strike zone." And Matthews found another unlikely ally in Redskins cornerback . "What else do you want the man to do?" he said. "Like, seriously, what else do you want the man to do? When I saw it, there was no malicious, ill intent. I understand the rules of the situation, but at the same time, it sucks being a defender now. They hit your pockets and then they hit you for a penalty."