Advertisement

Vikings coach claims official admitted clean hit drew penalty: 'They just want us to throw the flag'

jack baer
Staff writer
It’s not often that an official will agree with a team that he threw an unnecessary flag, but that the Vikings’ experience Sunday. (AP Photo)
It’s not often that an official will agree with a team that he threw an unnecessary flag, but that the Vikings’ experience Sunday. (AP Photo)

There has been no shortage of confusion, frustration and outrage as the NFL’s new tackling guidelines continue to lead to questionable penalties, but now it looks like even an NFL official believes clean hits are now receiving flags.

Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer claimed he was told as much during the Vikings’ 29-29 tie against the Packers on Sunday in an interview on KFAN captured by ESPN’s Courtney Cronin on Wednesday.

NFL official reportedly admits Vikings penalized for clean hit

After Vikings safety Andrew Sendejo was flagged for unnecessary roughness on a hit he believed was clean, Zimmer said that Sendejo asked an official what he could have done differently. He apparently received a less than satisfactory answer.

“You did everything right. You couldn’t have done anything different,” the official reportedly said. “They just want us to throw the flag.”

The hit in question occurred in the third quarter and involved Sendejo leading with his right shoulder for an open-field tackle of Packers wide receiver Devante Adams, who had made initial contact with Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes. Zimmer reportedly called to ask the NFL’s office to review the hit.

Packers also questioned NFL rules

Zimmer joins an ever-expanding chorus of football figures bewildered by the NFL’s new directives on defense, a chorus that ironically includes the quarterback of the team that the Vikings were playing on Sunday.

Though it was likely due to a costly penalty on Clay Matthews in Week 1 rather than their game against the Vikings, the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers publicly questioned the new rules on Wednesday, saying the rules “maybe are going the wrong direction” and that some of the hits in question “are not penalties” to him.

More from Yahoo Sports:
• Meyer’s grim warning to NFL team about Aaron Hernandez
• School official sorry for racist remark about Texans QB
• New book claims Brady feels ‘trapped’ with Belichick
• Red Sox fans make problematic discovery