Photo Courtesy of GCobb.com
Patrick Causey, on Twitter @PhillySportsPMC
In Saturday's game against the Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford took the following shot to the knee from Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs, courtesy of SI.com's Chris Burke:
Every fan wearing midnight green felt their stomach drop — "this can't be happening, not now, not this soon."
It seemed like an eternity before the camerman scanned back to Bradford so that we could see if he was healthy.
Thankfully, Bradford got up, as he would later in the game after a vicious — but legal — hit:
How's it going Sam Bradford? https://t.co/DEiWm862D7
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) August 22, 2015
It was comforting to see Bradford bounce back. But that's a footnote right now that can be discussed at a later date.
Because right now, Suggs cheap shot takes center stage.
Suggs was hit with a personal foul penalty, which led to a war of words between Chip Kelly, NFL officiating, Dean Blandino, and Ravens coach Jim Harbaugh over whether the hit was legal.
I, for one, could care less about whether it was legal.
It was a dirty hit. A hit that is entirely unnecessary in any game, but especially in a preseason game.
Listen to current and ex-football players talk about the game, and there is almost unanimous consent on one thing: you can hit people hard — as we saw with the second hit Bradford took — but you don't hit someone dirty. You don't aim at someone's knees. You don't risk ruining someone's career and taking away their ability to provide for their family to prove a point. Especially in a preseason game.
It's unnecessary. It's unprofessional. And it's stupid.
Bradford let his feelings be known to Suggs on the field, but tried to take the high road off it: "I was a little upset. I'm not sure if I can repeat what I said to him, but it's part of the game."
Jason Peters, on the other hand, did not pull any punches: "It was a cheap shot at the quarterback. I'm pretty sure he planned it. We practiced against them all week, and I'm pretty sure he was thinking about it," Peters said. "I really don't know him personally. He talks a lot. I think he is that kind of player — dirty, and takes shots at quarterbacks."
This echoes similar sentiments raised by LeGarrette Blount, who said Suggs is "known to be a dirty player" last November.
I don't know Suggs personally. Never met the guy. And I do not cover him enough to form a reasonable conclusion one way or the other on Suggs as a person.
But I do not need to know Suggs as a person to know that it was a cheap shot. He dove at Bradford's twice surgically repaired knee in an effort to prove a point, which is confirmed by his statement after the game: "If you want to run the read option with your starting quarterback that has had two knee surgeries, that's on you. That's not my responsibility to update you on the rules. I could have hit him harder than that. I eased up."
Errrrrr. Wrong. This is a play of you easing up, which happened on the first offensive play for the Eagles:
This was the first play of the Sam Bradford drive. Terrell Suggs didn't have a problem holding up here. https://t.co/B8ddCtF7qB
— Joe Giglio (@JoeGiglioSports) August 24, 2015
So while some people will parse words over the legality of the hit under the current rules of the NFL, I quite frankly do not care. It was a dirty hit in my book, one that never should have occurred.
Here is the reaction the hit received from others on social media:
How are people defending Terrell Suggs? QB handed ball off, did not carry out fake, Suggs attacked knees, then later noted his knee surgery.
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) August 23, 2015
Sam Bradford takes his first hit — a late hit from Terrell Suggs — and gets up. Looked like Suggs was going low. #Eagles
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) August 22, 2015
Source: The #Eagles have dispatched an intern to the #Ravens' sideline to hit Terrell Suggs in the knee with a tire iron.
— Mike Sielski (@MikeSielski) August 22, 2015
Like, is Terrell Suggs effing kidding? It's a preseason game.
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) August 22, 2015
Woah, Bradford irate. Terrell Suggs with the dirty-ish play. Harbaugh is yelling. Woah.
— Andrew Porter (@And_Porter) August 22, 2015
Sam Bradford took a pretty bad hit from Terrell Suggs after that play, but got up pretty quickly. Ravens called for roughing the passer.
— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) August 22, 2015
