Tom Nalen is a dirty player and Igor Olshansky was right to punch him
Year in and year out the Denver Broncos have the best offensive line in the league. They also have the dirtiest offensive line, and last night’s Sunday Night Football game between Denver and San Diego Chargers provided a telling example. It happened late in the fourth quarter, with the Chargers up 35-27 and Denver desperately trying to catch up. After completing an inbounds pass for a first down, Broncos spiked the ball to stop the clock. Rather than just preventing rushers from roughing Denver’s quarterback Jake Plummer, center Tom Nalen stood up and then threw a sneaky and vicious cutblock on Chargers defensive end Oleg Olshansky who was doing nothing but standing up and watching Plummer spike the ball. The big Charger responded immediately by striking Nalen several times, drawing a 15 yard personal-foul penalty and an ejection in the process. San Diego’s head coach Marty Schottenheimer was incensed by Olshansky’s lack of discipline, but I have to say Nalen deserved it, and it’s not as if Olshansky was going to hurt him through all those pads anyway.
Rob Zepeda has a video clip of the play (via a group of Danish football fans).
Chargers fans Jared W. Smith and Minor League Town side with Schottenheimer (and Olshansky as well, I guess, since the big man has apologized for punching the dirty Nalen).
Rich at House of Sports Blab thinks Olshansky was right to pound Nalen:
I’ve long contended that the Broncos have had the dirtiest offensive line in the NFL, but that crap was enough to make Conrad Dobler wince. Seriously, what the hell?
Joe West of Northwest Arkansas Times was infuriated by Nalen’s cut block:
Let me say this: If some jerk dives at my knees on a spike play, I’m going to give him a shot, too. I might give him an Albert Haynesworth stomp for good measure … I know Olshansky could have really hurt his team with the penalty, but I think he was in the right. Nalen deserves a fine as much Olshansky does, but that won’t happen because cut-blocking is still legal in the NFL.
ESPN columnist John Clayton singles out Olshansky without mentioning Nalen’s dirty hit. Let me clarify my position: I’m not saying Nalen’s hit was illegal, I’m saying it was dirty. I’m passing moral, not legal, judgment on him.
Sportable defends Olshansky: “[The Denver Broncos offensive linemen] are a disgrace to the NFL and the game of football.” Hear! Hear!
New England Patriots Pro Bowl defensive end Richard Seymour, on the other hand, was wrong to stomp Indianapolis Colts offensive tackle Tarik Glenn two weeks ago. The block Glenn threw to provoke Seymour’s retaliation was a legitimate part of the play. Stomping a vulnerable player in the upper torso and neck areas also strikes me as more dangerous than throwing a couple of punches in the same areas. To his credit, Seymour, who generally comes across as a good man and a stand-up player, apologized to Glenn in person after the game and has accepted the $7,500 League fine.
