Steelers tackle Chukwuma Okorafor drew plenty of social media outrage — but not a penalty flag — when he jumped on a fallen Browns linebacker Anthony Walker on Thursday night. But Okorafor says he did nothing wrong.
Okorafor engaged Walker on a block downfield when Walker fell awkwardly to the ground, face-first. Okorafor reacted to that by forcefully throwing his full body weight onto Walker’s back. Walker ended up getting carted off the field with a leg injury that he appeared to suffer during the initial block and not on the hit afterward, while Okorafor got penalized for being an ineligible receiver downfield but not for the hit.
Okorafor insisted he was just trying to finish the block.
“I don’t know what happened,” Okorafor said, via SteelersNow.com. “I was just playing ball.”
Most observers who weighed in on social media disagreed, and many thought Okorafor should have been ejected. The league office may look at Okorafor’s play and say he was doing a lot more than just playing ball.