Falcons safety Keanu Neal was fined by the NFL for a hit he made on Eagles receiver Jordan Matthews on Sunday.
Neal, a rookie and the 17th overall player taken in the 2016 NFL draft, was fined $24,309.
Eagles coach Doug Pederson said the NFL office told him that Neal’s hit on should have been a penalty. In the game, no penalty was called.
Neal got in trouble by leading with his helmet in to the neck-and-head area on Matthews in the fourth quarter of the Eagles’ 24-15 win over the Falcons on Sunday.
The receiver protested the non-call and said that his face mask was bent on the play.
Falcons coach Dan Quinn defended Neal’s hit, and the Neal contended that it was not a bad hit.
Here’s what Neal had to say about the hit after the game:
On his perspective of the helmet-to-helmet hit on Eagles WR Jordan Matthews:
“Never do I ever attempt to hit someone in the head. That’s just not the type of player I am. I’m not there to play like that. (Quinn) always talks about the strike zone. You guys know I’m a physical player, but I’m not trying to hit the dude in the head. They didn’t call a flag. I didn’t try to hit him in the head. I don’t think I hit him in the head, but I didn’t attempt to hit him in the head.”
On whether he felt any contact with Matthews’ helmet or facemask during the hit:
“No. When you’re playing the game, you don’t really feel that. You have a lot of adrenaline running, so you don’t really feel the helmet.”
On the reaction from the crowd after the hit on Matthews:
“I heard the reaction, but I didn’t see a flag. I thought it was a clean hit. Like I mentioned earlier, I don’t attempt to hit them in the head. That’s not me. We’re big on the strike zone and in the National Football League they’re big on head-to-head collisions and targeting fouls. I try my hardest to make sure my hits are legal and they didn’t call a flag today.”
On what he thought of the Matthews hit:
“Like I said, I am not trying to hit the guy in the head. That’s not me. Never in the game of football will I ever try to do that. I’m not a dirty player like that. I went for the strike zone, I lowered my shoulder, and I felt like I hit him in the sternum. I don’t think I had any head-to-head contact.”
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