Is Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive lineman Calijah Kancey guilty of a late hit on Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell, or have we all just gotten soft?
The debate matters very little to O’Connell, who left the game with a potentially serious knee injury, but to fans on X, it proved quite divisive.
‘How did they not call that?’ one fan asked.
‘That was not a hit,’ another responded. ‘That was a push.’
O´Connell was carted off the field after being shoved to the ground by Kancey on a late third-quarter pass in the Bucs’ 28-13 win on Sunday.
The quarterback, in his second game back after being sidelined nearly six weeks with a broken thumb, remained on the ground after an 8-yard, third-down completion to Jakobi Meyers. Kancey chased O´Connell out of the pocket toward the Bucs sideline and shoved him from behind after the ball was released.
O’Connell is carted off the field against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third quarter
O´Connell was carted off the field after being shoved to the ground on a third-quarter pass
Kancey, who was not penalized for a late hit, did address the situation with reporters.
‘Prayers to him. I pray for a speedy recovery,’ Kancey said. ‘I hope everything’s good on their end. I definitely took a knee and prayed for him.’
CBS Sports rules analyst and former NFL official Gene Steratore said Kancey should have been flagged for unnecessary roughness.
As for O’Connell, embattled Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce said the injury ‘doesn’t look good.’
The Raiders have lost an NFL-high nine straight games, but Las Vegas’ struggles took a back seat to the subject of the hit itself.
‘If had been [Patrick] Mahomes dude would’ve been thrown out league!’ one X user wrote in a reference to the league’s perceived preference for the Kansas City Chiefs star.
‘This wasn’t that dirty,’ another fan responded. ‘Soft.’
One eagle-eyed observer noticed that the push itself didn’t cause an injury to O’Connell, but rather it may have occurred as he tried to regain his balance.
‘Looks like he hurt his knee when planting after the push,’ the X user wrote.
And yet, another keen eye caught a potentially revealing reaction from Buccaneers players: ‘You know it late when everyone in the shot looks at ref for the flag.’
