The Los Angeles Chargers were especially fired up after Sunday’s Week 8 win against the Saints, and for good reason:
They witnessed one of the dirtier plays we’ll see all season. Yet, Saints head coach Dennis Allen somehow saw nothing wrong about it.
In the second quarter of the Chargers’ 26-8 win, Saints defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd was called for a personal foul after he grabbed hold of Justin Herbert’s right leg and twisted it well after the pass was thrown. Center Bradley Bozeman saw what happened and went barreling at Shepherd in Herbert’s defense. Bozeman was also called for a personal foul penalty and called out Shepherd in the postgame interviews.
Hey @NFL and @NFLOfficiating if you do not suspend Nathan Shepherd for this play I do not want to hear anymore about how player safety is your number one priority. pic.twitter.com/ivx9bOYvmj
— Eric (@EVrsalovich) October 28, 2024
On Monday, Allen was asked for his thoughts on the controversial hit and really went out of his way to defend Shepherd for an indefensible play. He said via NBC Sports:
“I think it’s not accurate. Here’s a guy that’s trying to wrap the quarterback up. He’s on the ground, he has no idea whether the quarterback has the ball or not. He’s just trying to bring the quarterback down to the ground, so there was nothing malicious about that play. It’s a guy that’s trying to make the play. I went back and looked at that play again after seeing the comments and I don’t agree with that.”
The thing is, though, that Shepherd’s hit would have been a penalty even if Herbert had the football because defenders can’t go low on quarterbacks. So, Allen’s defense didn’t make much sense, and it’s tough to believe that Shepherd was unaware of what he was doing as he twisted Herbert’s leg.
Thankfully, the Chargers quarterback was fine to stay in the game. We’ll have to see if the league office takes any action against Shepherd for the dirty play.
