|
CINCINNATI -- One day after several Atlanta Falcons offensive players complained Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap delivered a "cheap shot" on quarterback Matt Ryan, two of Dunlap's coaches came to his defense Monday saying they didn't think there was anything wrong or malicious with Dunlap's post-whistle roll into Ryan's leg. "He dove out to tackle the quarterback," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "The quarterback's on the move and he dove out to tackle the quarterback. I don't know what else you can do." Defensive coordinator Paul Guenther agreed, saying that by the letter of the law, Dunlap was well within his rights to lunge toward and ultimately make contact with Ryan in the fashion that he did. "He's out of the pocket trying to go after the hit," Guenther said. "It just looked awful because [Dunlap] was turned to the side. But he's had a number of those over the course of his career. None have been called because it's a bang-bang play." With 1:56 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Bengals' 24-10 victory, Dunlap dove at and into a spot low on Ryan near his knees as the Falcons star quarterback threw a pass. The pass fell incomplete. Atlanta right offensive tackle Lamar Holmes immediately reacted by shoving Dunlap, leading to a 15-yard personal foul penalty. "I got beyond frustrated," Holmes said. "The ref felt like it wasn't a cheap shot, and I just felt like I needed to protect my quarterback. "I felt like it wasn't the right play, so I went to protect my quarterback. At the end of the day, he's my brother. I'm going to protect him by any means." Dunlap spoke to reporters after the game but wasn't asked about the hit being perceived as a cheap shot. He wasn't in the locker room Monday at the time when media conducted afternoon interviews. Lewis hinted at Ryan's mobility being a reason why Dunlap felt comfortable lining the quarterback up for a hit. By that point in the game, Ryan, who had just gotten out of the pocket, had run for 28 yards on three scrambles. "Unfortunately when the quarterback moves, we've got to tackle the quarterback," Lewis said. "We can't grab him and throw him to the ground, he's got to nestle him down to the ground and all those kind of things. In this case, he just kind of reaches out and leaps out to try to hit him on the ground. I didn't think there was anything, really. "I don't think any of those guys who went over to push [Dunlap] afterwards even saw what happened. They just saw the quarterback get hit and didn't know what happened." Falcons center Joe Hawley said he did see "the whole thing." "Matt threw the ball and [Dunlap] took two steps right for his legs," Hawley said. "I wasn't happy about it. I thought it was [a cheap shot]. "I didn't say anything directly to the guy, but I wasn't happy with him. I wasn't happy with the refs. They didn't even call a flag on it." Falcons receiver Roddy White wanted whistles on Dunlap, too. "That's up to the referees to call that," White said. "We can't call that. We're not officials. We can just do what our right tackle did: Go out there and hit the guy. Yes, I'm OK with Lamar doing that. You've got to protect your quarterback at all times in this league, no matter what it is. Especially situations like that, you've got to have his back. "We can't let stuff like that happen to Matt. He could have hurt himself really bad. He hit the guy in the knees." Much was made of how the Falcons allowed a sliding Ryan to absorb an illegal hit from New Orleans Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro in the 2013 season opener without coming to Ryan's defense. Team owner Arthur Blank emphasized the incident as the reason why the Falcons needed to get tougher up front. Typical of his character, Ryan downplayed Sunday's incident with Dunlap. "It's one of those things when you're out there playing, that's bang-bang," Ryan said. "You're trying to complete a pass, you're trying to escape. It's not for me to decide whether those plays are legal, illegal, whatever." Lewis' comments on the hit came after he said during his news conference Monday that he addressed his players about their general comportment late in the game. Before and after the hit on Ryan there were tense and chippy moments in which his defenders had starring roles. His defenders jawed at the Falcons and provoked at least one attempted punch from an Atlanta player that didn't land. "We've got work to do," Lewis said. "This is the NFL, not the WWF. Let's get it right. I've brought it to their attention. We don't want to be that way and we wouldn't want anybody to put us in that position, so let's not get involved in it at all. It's not what we should be standing for in the NFL. This is a football game, so let's understand that." ESPN.com Falcons reporter Vaughn McClure contributed to this story.
|
