Seattle's Walter Thurmond rips Wes Welker for hit, says Seahawks ready for Denver's tactics
It seems like finally someone agrees with Bill Belichick. The Patriots coach ripped Broncos wide receiver (and former Patriot) Wes Welker earlier this week and then went through an entire week of people in the media ripping him for his initial ripping...or something like that.
Belichick lit into Welker Monday morning saying that his hit that knocked Patriots cornerback Aqib Talib out of the game was "one of the worst plays I've ever seen". Bill contended that there was no attempt by Welker to get open. He didn't directly say that there was an intent to injure, but it was certainly implied.
Not even the NFL agreed with Belichick though. They met to discuss the hit with him yesterday before the VP of Officiating came out to the public to say the hit was not illegal and there would be no discipline.
ESPNBoston:
"The first potential foul would be for offensive pass interference; a receiver can't block downfield before the ball is touched, so the timing is important," he said. "The contact occurs, the ball is touched almost simultaneously. We don't have a foul for pass interference.
"The other thing, is it unnecessary roughness? Under the current rules it isn't. It's not late; Talib wasn't out of the play. Unfortunately there was an injury, so just like in other situations when an injury does occur, the competition committee will take a look at this and determine if there needs to be a change. But under the current rules, this is a legal play."
Tough luck there. Luckily, there's someone other than Patriots fans that think the hit was uncalled for.
Seattle's Walter Thurmond told Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post that he felt the hit was dirty and was surprised it wasn't flagged.
“It was really uncalled for,” Thurmond said Wednesday in response to a question from The Post. “The receiver ran right into the guy. I don’t know the extent of the injury Talib had, but I thought we were supposed to protect football players in this league now. I guess not. I guess that only goes one way.”
To Thurmond, Welker's intent was obvious on the play. As Belichick said, there was no attempt to get open and it seemed Welker's sole purpose was to take out Aqib Talib on the play.
“Welker had his head down, like he was coming down the whole time,” he said. “That should be a flag, and he should be getting fined. There’s a whole bunch of things that should happen in that situation, but I don’t run the NFL.”
Thank you Walter, I'm starting to wish you did.
Whatever the case, the Seahawks will be ready for the tactics the Broncos put on display. One things for sure, Welker might not want to try to set a pick on Thurmond.
“We play a lot of man coverage, so we know they’re going to have a lot of crossing routes like that,” Thurmond said. “We’re preparing for that situation to occur. We know that kind of contact is going to happen because we play so much man, and we’ll be ready for it.”
RELATED:
John Fox defends Welker after Belichick calls for foul play
Bill Belichick lights into Wes Welker, calls hit on Talib "one of worst plays I've ever seen"
