Redskins DE defends Clay Matthews over hit: ‘That’s not a flag’

Clay Matthews once again finds himself in the middle of a controversy over a roughing the passer penalty, and this time he has support from an unlikely place.

Jonathan Allen, a defensive end for the team that benefited from the call on Sunday, said after the game that Matthews’ hit on Alex Smith should not have resulted in a penalty flag.

One more on the Clay Matthews roughing the passer penalty. This time from #Redskins DE Jonathan Allen: "That’s not a flag. I’m sorry. I’m glad we got it, but that ain’t a flag…" So how do you avoid that as a defender? "Pray to God, I guess." #Packers

— Brian McNally (@bmcnally14) September 23, 2018

Allen also highlighted one of the biggest problems with the rule: it’s so hard to know how or when referees will enforce it. Like he said, all you can do is hope after you’ve made a hit on a quarterback that you won’t get penalized for it.

Allen’s Redskins won the game 31-17 over Matthews’ Packers. We have said and will continue to say that the NFL can’t get rid of the rule soon enough. The new roughing the passer rules make it unreasonably difficult for defensive players to do their job effectively. And like Matthews says, the league is going too soft.