Panthers receiver Steve Smith picked up a costly holding penalty in the final moments of Sunday’s loss to the Vikings, negating a Cam Newton run that gave the Panthers first-and-goal and pushing the Panthers back just before their missed field goal at the end of the game.
As you’d imagine, Smith wasn’t happy with the official who called the hold.
“If the ref says it’s holding, I can sit here and say this and that. But at the end of the day he’s the guy with the flag and he calls it,” Smith said, via the Charlotte Observer. “I got a few texts already saying in the HD it didn’t look too bad. But for a 70-year-old man gimping down the field, I guess that’s what he saw.”
Smith and the people texting him might not like it, but I watched it in HD, too, and I think it was the right call: Smith wrapped his arm around Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway as Greenway was pursuing Newton, and he deserved to get flagged.
Now we’ll wait and see if Smith also gets fined for his comments about the officiating.