Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians isn’t exactly holding back after Denver Broncos tight end Julius Thomas laid an illegal block on Calais Campbell this past Sunday.
First off, Arians called the block the dirtiest play he has seen since he’s been in the league (via NFL.com).
That was the dirtiest play I’ve seen in 37 years,” Arians said, calling it a “premeditated high-low” executed by the Broncos.
For someone that coached James Harrison with the Pittsburgh Steelers, I have a hard time believing that Arians honestly thinks this is true. Sure the Cardinals head coach is rather heated, as he should be.
Here is the play in question.
https://vine.co/v/OK5X2DnE9Lt
Arians then indicated that there should be a rule within the NFL that suspends an offending player for however long his opponent is injured.
Arians said nfl rule should be offending player suspended while opponent is out injured
— Kent Somers (@kentsomers) October 6, 2014
Campbell is expected to miss one-to-three weeks.
Arians does have a solid point here. The block Thomas laid on Campbell was rather dirty. But in no way does this mean that he should be suspended for it. He doesn’t have a history of dirty play on the football field, which is one thing that has to be taken into account.
For his part, Broncos head coach John Fox responded to Arians’ claims (via SB Nation).
I believe that’s probably our first chop block call in our tenure here over four years. It was a look that we had not seen much of; we weren’t targeting anybody in particular. Calais was lined up at end and he spends most of his time inside. It was a three-man rush and we didn’t communicate as well as we’d like. I never like to see any player injured, including an opponent’s player. It cost us a 77-yard touchdown, so we’re not coaching that.
Either way you put it, this is a play the NFL has attempted to squeeze out of football for some time now. And to be honest, there is no place in the league for it.
Photo: Fox Sports