Seattle's star defensive end Jadeveon Clowney is prepared for the worst after his team's 17-9 victory over the Eagles.
During the first quarter of Sunday's Wild Card contest, Clowney was attempting to stop Carson Wentz from scrambling for a first down when he delivered a blow that knocked Philly's starting quarterback out of the game. Although he wasn't penalized for the hit, fans believe that Clowney delivered an illegal helmet-to-helmet blow. As a result, Clowney thinks that he'll receive death threats from the Philadelphia faithful.
"There might be death threats," said after the game per USA Today before calling Eagles supporters the "worst fans in the world."
When he was still playing for the Houston Texans last season, then-Eagles quarterback Nick Foles led Philly to a late-game victory over Houston. Although they won, Foles was benched for a play after Clowney delivered a late hit that earned him a roughing the passer penalty. Philly fans were pissed.
Clowney didn't only face backlash from ans. Philly's left tackle Jason Peters said he spoke to Clowney directly during the game about the collision.
"I just told him, 'Man, that's a dirty play,'" he recounted to the media. "He's like, 'my bad,' you know, and we just kept playing. I just kept reminding him, 'Come on, man, stay off my quarterback.'"
Despite the anger, Clowney insists that the hit was the result of an accidental "bang-bang" play.
"I was just playing fast, and he turned like he was running the ball, so I was trying to get him down," Clowney said. "It was a bang-bang play. I don't intend to hurt anybody in this league, let me just put that out there. I've been down the injury road; it's not fun.... I thought it was just a small hit, but everybody was going crazy on the sidelines. I was just trying to finish the play, but it happened."
