Neal fined $24,000 for hit on Matthews
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.”
About the Author
Honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his "long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football," D. Orlando Ledbetter, Esq. has covered the NFL 28 seasons. A graduate of Howard University, he's a winner of Georgia Sportswriter of the Year and three Associated Press Sports Editor awards.
