The Dolphins are trying to climb back in their AFC Wild Card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers—behind two Antonio Brown touchdowns, the Steelers jumped out to a quick lead—and they’re doing so with a quarterback who got absolutely obliterated in the second quarter…and somehow was permitted to go right back onto the field.
Matt Moore, who has been a pleasant surprise filling in for Ryan Tannehill, rolled out to his right and got demolished by a monster truck named Bud Dupree, who launched into Moore’s head.
Warning: this is one of the more uncomfortable hits you’ll probably see in a football game.
Bud Dupree just killed Matt Moore pic.twitter.com/wVgwX63Vwm
Even more troubling than the violent hit to the head, though, is that the Dolphins quickly put Moore back in the game. He went through the NFL’s “concussion protocol” and was deemed OK to return to action. In fact, he sat out only one play.
Viewers couldn’t believe it.
It took me longer to decide what to order for lunch than it did the sideline to decide Matt Moore was just fine to go back in this game.
Trainer: do you have a concussion?
Moore: chicken nuggets
Trainer: ok, you're good to go
A different angle of the Bud Dupree hit on Matt Moore https://t.co/azi0sI0x9p
Dolphins running back Jay Ajayi was penalized 15 yards—equivalent to the penalty Dupree received—for defending his quarterback and getting into a minor scuffle after the play. Again, viewers wondered: how is this fair?
So crushing a QB with a head high hit is the same amount of penalty yards as lightly shoving the offending tackler after. Got it.
Great football strategy: Commit a roughing the passer penalty so brutal that the opponent gets mad enough to commit unsportsmanlike conduct
The NFL cares so much about player safety that the Dolphins are facing 1st-&-25 after their QB got blasted to hell because a player got mad
Moore took another tough shot at the end of the first half, as he was strip-sacked, and was very slow to get up. We’ll see whether Miami and its banged-up quarterback can climb back from a 20-6 deficit in the second half. You can catch the action on CBS.
