Lions center injured during victory formation kneeldown as Rams fired off ball hard
There’s no sweeter play in football than the victory formation kneeldown. But even for the Detroit Lions, it came at a cost on Sunday.
Center Travis Swanson was injured on what typically is a non-competitive play as the Lions were trying to run out the clock at the end of what would become a 31-28 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams chose to make it competitive by diving at the knees of Swanson and the rest of the Lions’ line, and he reportedly suffered a hand injury in the process.
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The Lions, as you can imagine, were none too pleased at the Rams’ tactics. Swanson and quarterback Matthew Stafford, who got tangled up in the mess and appeared to be stepped on by a teammate, got up in the faces of Rams players after the second kneeldown.
“I wasn’t real fired up about what happened on the first one,” Stafford said. “We took the second knee, and I’m sure that didn’t feel any better for them so I just let them know how I felt about it.”
Swanson denied he had an injury despite visiting the X-ray room, telling the Detroit Free Press that he was fine.
The approach brings to mind the end-game approach of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano, who made waves by telling his players to fire off the ball when opponents went into kneeldown mode in games they thought they had won. This angered several opposing coaches, including former New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, who scolded Schiano after the game in 2012.
Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has forged a reputation for his — ahem — aggressive approach to football, so perhaps this is not shocking to see. You remember the bounty scandal, don’t you? Asked about it Monday, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher passed the buck and placed the blame on his players, who took it upon themselves to go hard at the Lions, but also said that he would ensure it wouldn’t happen again.
“This approach did not come from the sideline,” Fisher said. “It was not a call. It was not something that we practiced or that we preach. I think it was a byproduct of frustration, some things that Aaron [Donald] endured during the game, and the players took it on themselves to do it.
“We’ll address it. I talked to [Lions head coach Jim] Caldwell after the game and apologized and said I’d get to the bottom of it. The game’s over, the game’s over. Pay respect to your opponent. But you guys don’t realize all the stuff that goes on inside, up front, between the offensive linemen and the defensive linemen. We’ll address it, and it’s unlikely it’ll happen again.”
We’ll have to see if Swanson’s injury is serious. If so, Caldwell, who declined comment on Swanson’s injury after the game, might be a bit steamed about this whole deal. Caldwell didn’t appear thrilled about how the final plays went down but stopped short of calling out Fisher and the Rams.
“Guys coach how they want to coach, it’s their business,” Caldwell said, per the Detroit Free Press. “We do what we do, everybody else does what they do. We don’t try to copy anybody. We don’t worry about what anybody thinks or anything of that nature. We just try to do our job.”
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
