During the second half of Thursday’s game in Detroit, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams took a low hit down the sideline from Lions linebacker Jack Campbell. Williams’ left knee buckled and it initially appeared that he had suffered a significant knee injury. After an evaluation in the medical tent, he returned to the match without missing a moment of attack.
After the game, Williams was asked by reporters if it was a clean play.
“Um, the knee’s fine,” Williams said without answering the question directly. “Yeah, I… that part was funky. Just put it that way. I don’t really – you know, I didn’t really appreciate the part. He just dove straight for my knee. So I didn’t really do that.” I’m definitely a little frustrated about it because, you know, whatever. Yes, the knee is good. I think I just have a bruise. But the piece was… it was funky.”
Here’s the play. It was funky, but it was also clean. When a quarterback becomes a runner, a hit on or below the knee is legal.
In this case, Williams apparently attempted a Lamar Jackson-style freeze/stop, with Campbell flying by and Williams gaining more yards. It didn’t work.
Once a quarterback leaves the pocket, he throws off certain protections. Once he crosses the line of scrimmage, he loses any protection that would otherwise not apply to running backs.
Campbell was allowed to hit him low. For that reason, Williams should have just gone out of bounds. More importantly, he shouldn’t have tried to make a move on the sideline in hopes of making Campbell miss.
The fact that Campbell didn’t miss is on Williams, not Campbell.
