Minnesota Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr was not flagged for the hit on Aaron Rodgers that resulted in the star quarterback breaking his collarbone, but that didn’t stop Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy for deeming the hit illegal. McCarthy’s counterpart disagrees with that assessment.
On Monday, McCarthy said it was an “illegal act” for Barr to drive Rodgers into the ground the way he did. Rodgers was also seen barking at Barr following the play, but Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said his team would never intentionally deliver a cheap shot.
“We’re playing football,” Zimmer said, per Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com. “It’s unfortunate that he got hurt but I think everything was above board. We’re not a dirty football team. We’ll never be a dirty football team as long as I’m here. We’re going to play within the rules and sometimes things happen.”
The hit from Barr didn’t appear to be late. McCarthy is arguing that Barr used unnecessary force to drive Rodgers into the turf, but you be the judge:
The injury that sent Aaron Rodgers to the medical tent, then got carted off from the sidelines to the locker room pic.twitter.com/AI9V8lVAEm
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 15, 2017
More than anything, it looked like the way Rodgers landed was bad luck. A flag would have been thrown if Barr blatantly lifted him off the ground and drove him into the turf, but it appeared the linebacker was just finishing the hit.
We know one NFC North player who doesn’t care about Rodgers’ injury, though he seems to be in the minority. Anytime a star player goes down, there are bound to be some strong opinions.
