Bills head coach Sean McDermott slammed Jets defensive end Henry Anderson for hitting Bills kicker Steven Hauschka during a blocked field goal return in last Sunday’s game and said there’s “no place in football” for a play that the Bills feel should have resulted in a penalty.
Anderson addressed the play during an appearance on former Colts punter Pat McAfee’s podcast and called it a “totally legal and fair play.” Anderson said he hit Hauschka from the side and the kicker “would have fallen forward and on his face” if the hit had come from behind. Anderson also noted that he’s been coached to avoid kickers if they are avoiding the play, but that Hauschka started “angling toward the ball carrier” before the hit.
“He almost slide-tackled one of our kick returners earlier in the game,” Anderson said, via the Buffalo News. “If I don’t make a block there and he ends up somehow making that tackle then I’m going to get chewed out by [special teams coach] Brant Boyer. I figured that I would rather hit the kicker legally and within the rulebook then not hit him at all and potentially get chewed out by our special teams coach. I didn’t hit him helmet to helmet, I didn’t lower my head and spear him, I didn’t launch my body at him. I put my shoulder into him and extended my arms into him.”
Anderson said he understands frustration from the Bills’ side, but that the difference in weight between the players means he could have hit Hauschka much harder if his goal was to cause injury.
The segment with McAfee was a mock courtroom proceeding with McAfee presiding. He concluded that the kicker has to “keep his head on a swivel” and that Anderson’s play was not the violation that the Bills believe it was.