Anyone watching Thursday night’s game between the Steelers and Browns saw Pittsburgh offensive lineman Chukwuma Okorafor pouncing on Browns linebacker Anthony Walker, after Walker was down (and, as it turned out, injured). Steelers coach Mike Tomlin possibly did not.
Tomlin told reporters on Tuesday that he “didn’t see the component of the play that upset people.”
It’s not quite clear whether Tomlin means that he physically didn’t observe it (if not, here it is) or whether he doesn’t understand why anyone would be upset by it.
Browns defensive end Myles Garrett was clearly upset by it when he addressed the maneuver on Monday.
“That was a bullshit play,” Garrett told Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “He’s not moving. You don’t jump on a guy. That was a bullshit play.”
It was, frankly. Walker was out of the action. He was no threat to make a tackle or otherwise contribute to the play. Still, Okorafor dove on top of him.
He did it either because he’s coached to do it, or because he chose to do it. Either way, he did it. At a time when folks in and around the game are more concerned about player health and safety than ever before, there’s no place for that kind of gratuitous contact.