In case you missed it yesterday, Lions center Dominic Raiola threw not one, but two cheap shots at Patriots defensive lineman Zach Moore in the closing moments of Detroit’s loss in New England.
With about a minute left to go in the game, Raiola was burned off the line by Moore on a third down pass rush. As the Patriots nose tackle turned Raiola into a 300-pound traffic cone, the center responded by clubbing Moore in the back of the head, taking him out of the play. It went largely unnoticed and unpenalized.
Then, on the final play of the game, Raiola attempted to take out Moore’s knees by cutting him immediately after snapping the ball to Matt Stafford to knee it and run out the clock.
While the latter play also went unpenalized, it was picked up on by the media, who asked Raiola about it after the game. He didn’t even try to deny the dirty play and, instead, attempted to justify it by complaining that the Patriots ran up the score with less than two minutes left in the game.
Raiola’s comments on the incident, via the Detroit Free Press:
“I cut him,” Raiola said. “We took a knee, so I cut the nose (tackle). They went for six (a touchdown). They went for a touchdown at 2 minutes. They could have took three knees and the game could have been over. It’s football. He wants to keep playing football, let’s play football. Not a big deal. It’s football.”
Yeah, except there’s one problem here…cutting a guy at the knees in an obvious attempt to injure is not “playing football,” you clown.
It’s also important to note that the Patriots initially elected to kick a field goal instead of going for the touchdown on the drive Raiola is directly referring to. However, the Lions gifted New England an automatic first down after defensive tackle C.J. Mosley delivered a dirty and illegal hit to long snapper Danny Aiken on the successful field goal attempt, leading the Pats to run it into the endzone on the very next play.
So, no, cutting a guy at the knees because the other team ran up the score is in no way, shape or form acceptable for an athlete at any level. It’s trying to take away a guy’s livelihood for no other reason than you’re a sore loser and, frankly, a real piece of shit.
