Bill Belichick went to bat for his punt returner during a conference call with the media Sunday.
New England Patriots receiver Danny Amendola laid out Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Jamell Fleming on a punt return midway through the second quarter of Saturday’s divisional-round playoff game. Fleming was trying to down a Chiefs punt, and Amendola laid him out with a shoulder check, drawing an unnecessary roughness penalty that moved the ball from New England’s 4-yard line to its 2.
“I saw him block the guy trying to down the ball,” Belichick said the day after his Patriots’ 27-20 win. “It’s hard to tell from the coaching film where the hit occurred, but it was a legal play. We’re allowed to block him. (Amendola) didn’t give a fair-catch signal, so he’s allowed to block.
“Then after the play, (Dezman) Moses grabbed (Amendola’s) facemask and started shaking him,” the Patriots coach added. “That was — I’m not real sure what happened on all of that. There were a lot of bodies around there, a lot of pushing and shoving and all that. So I think you’d have to ask the officials exactly what they called on that.”
Here’s a live shot of the hit. At the end, you can see Moses (No. 54) go up to Amendola and grab his facemask.
CBS color commentator Dan Fouts was adamant the crown of Amendola’s helmet hit Fleming’s head on the hit, but on replays, Amendola’s helmet appears to hit Fleming’s shoulder pad.
Fleming is not considered a defenseless player in this instance.
Was Amendola’s hit by definition “unnecessarily rough?” Yes, he could have hit Fleming a lot lighter and still done the job. But does that mean it’s a penalty? Perhaps NFL vice president ofoOfficiating Dean Blandino will shed some light in the coming days.
Fleming certainly wasn’t happy with the hit.
“Of course he knows he stuck me and everything,” Fleming said after the game. “And the crowd knows it, but there’s nothing I can do about it. We have one of the best pooch-area punt teams, of course, and I find the ball very good. Of course that was calculated. That wasn’t no fluke play. Everybody knows that, your own fans know that. So that’s how you know it’s bad.”
Moses was flagged for roughing the passer on a hit to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady eight plays after the punt return. The penalty moved the ball from the Chiefs’ 35 to the 20.
Thumbnail photo via Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports Images
