Detroit Lions center Dominic Raiola delivered a cheap shot on the final play of Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots that was completely uncalled for.
The incident happened after the Patriots elected to have LeGarrette Blount punch in a one-yard touchdown with less than two minutes in the game, rather than taking a knee and running out the clock.
Raiola wasn’t happy about it, so he dove at the knees of Patriots defensive lineman Zach Moore in retaliation while New England was in victory formation on the last play of the game.
And it’s not like he tried to hide it either. He spoke about the cheap shot after the game.
“I cut him,” Raiola said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “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.”
Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork didn’t see the play. But he weighed in on the extracurricular activity.
“I just heard what happened, but that was stupid,” he said. “I didn’t see it, but from what I heard … You’re taking a knee. They’d get mad if we were just to blow up one of their players, so I mean, it’s just uncalled for. But at the same time, you always have to protect yourself, so you always have to play with your neck on a swivel and being alert for 60 minutes, and it came down to it today on a bonehead play like that. But luckily no one got hurt and we can move on.”
Raiola’s cut block attempt was bush league. And even though he was not penalized on the play, he will likely be hit with a fine in the near future.