Sunday night’s NFL matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Chargers featured an ejection of 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw after a dangerous hit to Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert.
Los Angeles was looking to add to their 13-10 lead at the end of the first half when Herbert decided to try and run for a first down on a 3rd-and-6 play.
He came up just short of the first down and took a huge hit for his troubles, with helmet-to-helmet contact occurring as Herbert was going to the ground.
A flag was immediately thrown on the play, and after a discussion, it was decided that the hit was worthy of an unnecessary roughness call and an ejection to Greenlaw.
It was clearly helmet-to-helmet contact, but many around the NFL world believe that Greenlaw didn’t target Herbert’s head and the contact happened due to him being pulled down.
It certainly didn’t look like Greenlaw was targeting the head, and that the contact came due to Herbert being pulled down on the play.
That being said, the NFL will almost always air on the side of caution when it comes to any quarterback taking big hits.
The hit forced Herbert out of the game for the remainder of the first half, but he was ultimately cleared to return for the Chargers in the second half after he was deemed not to have a concussion on the play.
It’s great that Herbert is okay following this nasty hit, but the decision to eject Greenlaw is one that will certainly be discussed regardless of the result on Sunday night.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.