Getty Seahawks star Jadeveon Clowney expects to get death threats from Eagles fans after slamming Carson Wentz into the ground.
The Eagles have been rather tight-lipped about the controversial hit that ended their season. For good reason, they don’t want to get fined.
Finally, in the most diplomatic way possible, GM Howie Roseman finally revealed how he felt about Jadeveon Clowney’s helmet-to-helmet cheap shot on Jan. 5. The hit went both unpenalized and resulted in no fine from the league office despite knocking Carson Wentz out of their wild-card playoff game.
Wentz played just eight snaps and the Eagles lost 17-9. It was a devastating way for his first postseason experience to start and end. Roseman said he was still “sick” about it. The whole organization is.
“I’m sick about it. Doug (Pederson) is sick about it. Jeffrey (Lurie) is sick about it,” Roseman told Angelo Cataldi on 94 WIP SportsRadio. “Our whole organization is sick about. We’re there, we have a home playoff game, eight plays in. Come on, you know that. There’s no disconnect. We’re sick about it. It should have been a foul.”
In the days after the controversial hit, both the head referee from the game and the league office attempted to explain why there was no foul called or fine doled out. They ruled that Wentz was a runner who didn’t give himself up and the helmet contact was incidental. Clowney agreed and defended the play.
“It was a bang-bang play,” he said. “I don’t intend to hurt anybody in this league, let me just put that out there.”
REWIND⏪: Listen to the full Howie Roseman interview
Jon Runyan Defends Clowney’s Controversial Non-Call
Former Eagles offensive lineman Jon Runyan has taken some heat for not enforcing a fine or penalty on Jadeveon Clowney.
Runyan, a fan favorite known for his epic battles with Michael Strahan, now serves as the NFL’s Vice President of Policy and Rules administration. It’s his job to carefully review and pass judgment on all controversial calls and non-calls.
On Jan. 16, Runyan called into Angelo Cataldi’s show on 94 WIP SportsRadio and detailed why Clowney went unpunished. It was an intelligent debate, albeit one where both sides ultimately ended up agreeing to disagree.
“When you go back and look back at this play, it’s really, really close,” Runyan told Cataldi, as transcribed by Bleeding Green Nation. “Carson’s elbow is still off the ground as Clowney’s arm — the first thing that contacts Wentz is Clowney’s arm, to his hip and lower back area. Then his shoulder rolls in and then the helmet goes in.”
The NFL looks for a variety of fouls when reviewing plays, things like unnecessary roughness and roughing the passer and hitting a defenseless receiver. According to Runyan, Wentz wasn’t protected under any of those provisions. Hence, it was a legal hit.
“When you go through the whole process, he’s not a defenseless player because he’s not catching a pass,” Runyan said. “He’s a runner, so he doesn’t have the roughing the passer protection. You go down the list of stuff — unnecessary roughness — it wasn’t a leg whip, it’s not out of bounds, he’s not blocking someone out of bounds. His forward progress had not been stopped and he had not slid feet first.”
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