Dolphins wide receiver Rishard Matthews was injured Sunday after the Jets’ Calvin Pryor hit him when he attempted to catch a pass from Ryan Tannehill across the middle of the field.
Pryor hit Matthews in his midsection after the pass went behind Matthews, which forced him to leave the game with rib and chest injuries.
Tannehill was not happy about Pryor celebrating as his team laid on the ground hurt. “That’s kind of a classless move to celebrate when a guy is injured. Obviously, it was a good hit, a clean hit. But to celebrate when a guy is down is a classless move,” Tannehill said.
Pryor heard the comments from Tannehill, and wasn’t quite happy. As these things usually go, Pryor took to Twitter to voice his displeasure:
Throw a better ball next time @ryantannehill1 teammate would’ve never got injured!!! Sorry if you felt I was classless at the moment.
— Calvin Pryor III (@star_island25) November 30, 2015
I was definitely celebrating the great play I made. I would never celebrate someone getting injured during the game. C’mon now
— Calvin Pryor III (@star_island25) November 30, 2015
It does seem fair to say that if Tannehill hit Matthews in stride, he definitely would have taken a much less punishing blow. The hit itself doesn’t seem dirty either, it’s really just the nature of the game.
That’s also probably the legal extent of a hard hit that you can make in today’s NFL.
[ESPN]
