Lovie Smith not happy about Jared Allen’s block

Posted by Josh Alper on November 26, 2012, 2:29 PM EDT
AP

The Bears rolled to a 28-10 win over the Vikings on Sunday, but the day wasn’t all smiles.

They have a slew of injuries to deal with, including ones to running back Matt Forte, cornerback Charles Tillman and right guard Lance Louis. Louis hurt his knee when Vikings defensive end Jared Allen obliterated him with a block during an interception return by cornerback Antoine Winfield. Allen wasn’t penalized, although he clearly left his feet and hit Louis in the head and neck area, and Bears coach Lovie Smith said Monday that he thought Allen went too far.

“Jared Allen plays the game a certain way, a good player in our league. But I think there are some plays when you look at them again you say, ‘Hey, we could have done without that.’ I think our game could do without that play,” Smith said, via Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. “We have an injured player right now based on it. I think you could have gotten a block a little bit differently. That’s about all I should probably say about it. I’m sure the league will look at it and they’ll give an opinion about what they think.”

NBC officiating consultant Jim Daopoulos thought that Allen’s block should have been flagged. Allen said Sunday afternoon that he thought the hit was fine.

“I thought it was a legal hit,” Allen said, via the Pioneer Press. “He’s running to make a tackle, so I just wanted to block him. I never intentionally try to hurt anybody. I turned around, he was running to make a tackle and I threw myself into him to make a block. My condolences to him and his family.”

Allen probably shouldn’t be surprised to find a FedEx from the league at his locker at some point this week. Intent to injure or not, Allen’s block is one that the league’s been trying to eliminate.

UPDATE 2:36 p.m. ET: The Bears announced Monday that Louis has been placed on injured reserve.

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32 responses to “Lovie Smith not happy about Jared Allen’s block”

  1. Allens block was no different than Lance Briggs hit leveling Rudolph when he wasn’t looking. Allen did launch, but it wasn’t a blindside hit…guy just wasn’t looking, but Jared hit him square.

  2. The beautiful part of the NFL? The Vikings and Bears play again in 2 weeks. Allen better wear some extra protection around his own knees….

  3. It wasn’t a shot to the head- Allen planted Louis square on the shoulders with his shoulders. However, the linemen did not see the hit coming at all, and I can see how that’s an issue. Still, though, you can’t just expect him to not block somebody on an INT return, and one of the most important things you’re supposed to do in football to stay safe is “keep your head on a swivel”, which Louis wasn’t doing. If you’re not looking, it’s your fault that you are blind.

  5. That was a vicious head shot. I thought I was watching Ben Davidson and Ted “the Stork” Hendricks going after Len Dawson. If this were the NHL, we’d see a great series of fights in a couple of weeks.

  7. Funny Lovie didn’t mention anything about Lance Brigg’s hit on Kyle Rudolph that sent him to the locker-room with concussion-like symptoms…

  8. I get a kick out of all these threats from the Bears fans, For one you aren’t going to be on the field in two weeks, and second you’d run like a little girl if you were.
    I’ve got a suggestion, play the game, and you’d see how it really works, this is football, stuff happens, if you don’t like it don’t watch it.

  9. Comparing it to Rudolph? LOL.

    Rudolph was running a route within five yards of the line of scrimmage.

    Allen launched and made the textbook version of that illegal hit.

    Is he a dirty player? No. Should he be suspended? No. But the two hits aren’t even close. Unless you’re looking through purple-colored glasses.

  10. Liked Jared Allen until this play.
    But professionals don’t look to intentionally injure their opponents. This play went beyond fair play and Chicago News outlets are stating Lewis is out the remainder of the year.

  11. All you people saying this will get taken care of on the field aren’t watching the NFL lately. No players ever take action because they’re afraid they’ll get fined $20,000 and/or suspended themselves.

    Thanks to the new safety rules it’s open season and no retaliation is coming. Every player knows it so there’s no worry.

    Can you blame the players when to most a $20,000 fine is a lot of money.

  12. Why would you fine Allen when Louis could have avoided to worst of it by simply having some field awareness?

    This isn’t hockey, he’s allowed to launch into the block.

    He didn’t hit him in the head.

    It was around the ball.

    What is illegal about it?

    I agree with the person above who said it was no different then what Briggs did to Rudolph.

  15. He left his feet and hit Louis in the head with his shoulder. You can’t possibly look at the video and think otherwise unless you are a Vikings fan.

    And I’m not a Bears fan at all. But there has rarely been a clearer case of a textbook illegal hit.

  16. Not that different from Warren Sapps hit on Chad Clifton years ago. Here’s the problem are you looking to block somebody or hurt somebody? Allen is a cry baby tool, years ago he cried and sat outside the tunnel in chair when he thought another team went after his knees. He is a typical bully who thinks he’s a bad ass because he hits people who are trying to run away from him.

  18. The main difference from Sapp’s hit is that Louis could have potentially made a tackle and was around the ball where as Clifton was wayyy out of the play.

  21. OK, I just looked at this video and it is without any question that Allen launched himself from the blindside straight into the head and face of the guy. It shows every sign of being not only intentional but also malicious. And I don’t care for either team. This boy needs to be disciplined.

  22. Good thing the regular officials were there to prevent the injury. If this had been weeks one through three, the guy might have been hurt.

  23. Watch the tape on the Briggs and Allen hits — Allen left his feet to hit the unsuspecting Bears O-lineman who was chasing after Winfield on an INT. The attempt to block was legit since it was within the scope of the game action; however, the method was not.

    Briggs hit wasn’t any more justifiable. Rudolph was looking at the QB on a crossing route, Ponder wasn’t even looking his way, his route wasn’t part of the action, and Briggs nailed him head on. So it’s not okay to block a guy trying to tackle someone with the ball, but okay to nail an unsupsecting receiver outside of the scope of play? I wouldn’t even bring this up if it weren’t for all the whining. Please. . . .

  24. @purpleguy- yes, if he’s inside of five yards on his route. If we’re talking about the same play near the goal line, then all Briggs did was knock him off his route. It’s completely legal so long as he didn’t leave his feet.

  26. The Bears will be practicing their chop blocks the next time they play the Vikes. What goes around comes around.

  27. I have always liked and respected Jared Allen, and still do, but no way that was a legal hit…And it sucks that Allen only gets his wallet lightened, while Louis is injured and done for the year.

    That said, I’d just as soon NOT see a bunch of retaliatory skirmishes in two weeks. Just play the game.

  28. @purpleguy

    It’s funny that you talk about whining, when Rudolph was running a route across the middle within the five yards. Of course it’s unfortunate that Rudolph got concussed. I like the guy. But trying to rationalize what Allen did with what Briggs doesn’t work.

    Allen could have rightly and absolutely legally pancaked Louis. Instead, he left his feet and drilled him in the neck and head from the blind side.

  29. You can say the same exact thing about the block Anquan Boldin had on Eric Weddle on the fourth down conversion this past weekend.

    Defensive players are not protected the same way that offensive players are and in turn they will take whatever shot they can when the opportunity presents itself.

    I assume Jared Allen was licking his chops when he saw Lance Louis running without an awareness of his surroundings. He saw his chance and took it and absolutely obliterated him.
    I feel bad for Louis that he was injured due to the hit but defensive players are dying dinosaurs that are not being protected.

  30. What a dirty play! Allen launches himself into the air and leads with his head like he’s a freakin’ guided missile! I hope he gets fined.

  32. Of course Lovie Smith says they could do without that play, they threw a pick and got one of his players hurt. I’m sure Frazier would say, “We could have done without all of those plays where the Bears scored.”

    Oh and Allen made an awesome hit on that play. HE hit him square in the chest. Louis should have been paying attention. It sucks that he got hurt but it’s his own damn fault for not keeping his head on a swivel.

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