Eagles

NFL’s Former VP of Officiating Describes Clowney Hit on Carson Wentz as “Cheap”

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jan 8th, 2020 · 9:27 AM EST

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Let’s stop telling people to “get over it” when it comes to the Jadeveon Clowney hit on Carson Wentz.

Get over it? Seriously?

The guy put a dirty hit on a franchise quarterback and knocked him out of a playoff game. Every single NFL fan base would be equally incensed if that happened to their team. The difference between us and Saints fans, however, is that we’re not filing lawsuits against the NFL to try to change the outcome after the fact.

Carrying the Wentz/Clowney discussion into Wednesday is perfectly reasonable. There is certainly a shelf life on this story, and it will soon expire, but we haven’t reached that point yet.

Therefore, we’re sharing this quote from former VP of Officiating Mike Pereira, who Tuesday explained on 94 WIP that he felt like the hit was “cheap” –

I think it was a cheap shot. And the reason that I base it on that is on regular speed video and not slow motion…. I mean, he takes a shot.

Listen, I don’t think Clowney tried to hurt anybody but I do think he tried to punish him. That was my opinion of the play. Needlessly punish him.  And for those who don’t think it was cheap, then I would say, okay, I respect your opinion, but do me a favor and go back and look at it in real time, the live shot, which seldom do the networks go back and show. Some of them don’t even record the original line feed. But go back and look at that and then tell me it was not unnecessary. To me, unnecessary equates to cheap. That’s my view on the play.

There you have it. Mike Pereira has spoken. He believes it to be a cheap shot.

And no, it wouldn’t have changed much if it was called. Carson Wentz would still have been knocked out of the game. The Eagles would have only received a 15-yard penalty in return. In the grand scheme of things, that call or no-call wouldn’t have carried much weight.

But, it’s nice to hear an admission from somebody with credibility that this was a dirty shot and didn’t need to happen. That’s a nice counter-balance to shallow Josina Anderson and Danny Kanell takes, which really is the thing making the situation worse.

I’m sure that troll in the comments section who always whines about Carson’s “gimpy leg and bad back” will disagree and say it was a “clean play.”