Giants defensive end Justin Tuck added some spice to the wild card playoffs by ripping the Falcons’ offensive line as “dirtbags.” One of those Falcons linemen, Will Svitek, responded by saying the Falcons don’t do anything differently from any other team.
Although Tuck isn’t alone in calling out the Falcons’ line -- defensive linemen from the Packers and Lions ripped the Falcons’ offensive line during the regular season -- Svitek said that the Falcons’ cut blocks are a legal part of the game.
“We cut like everybody else,” Svitek said, via the New York Post. “That’s not illegal, and we don’t get fined. We’re not trying to hurt anybody. Diving at people’s legs is just part of the game. It’s not done in a cheap way.”
As we noted early in the season, when the Steelers complained about low blocks from the Ravens, a lot of NFL players don’t seem to know the rules on cut blocks. The truth is that Svitek is right: The rule against illegal chop blocks has a very narrow definition, and most of the time, when an offensive lineman dives at a defensive lineman’s legs, he’s not breaking any NFL rule. You can argue (and most defensive linemen would argue) that the NFL needs to change that rule, but there’s not a blanket rule against cut blocking.
As for Tuck’s “dirtbag” characterization, Svitek shrugged it off.
“That’s his point of view,” Svitek said. “We’re going to do what we do. We take pride in being physical. You don’t want to be viewed as soft. We’re always going to be there, and we want them to know we’re there.”
It sounds like the Falcons’ linemen like the fact that Tuck is thinking about their tactics this week.