Colin Kaepernick held onto the ball and made for the sidelines after spotting no open receivers in the red zone during the first quarter of the San Francisco 49ers game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. Packers lineman Clay Matthews was determined to get a hit on the mobile 49ers quarterback, slamming into Kaepernick as he was stepping off the field.
The 49ers had a 3rd and six outside the ten-yard line when Kapernick decided to scramble out of the pocket and try for a first down. A yard shy, he stepped out of bounds. Leaping after the quarterback, Matthews wrapped him up around the shoulders and took all 6’4'', 230 lbs. of him to the turf. The unnecessary tackle led to a fight between the opposing sides.
San Francisco offensive lineman Joe Staley was the first to rush over to retaliate. What ensued was a shoving battle that involved multiple members of both the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers. In the end, the teams received off-setting penalities – Matthews was called for a personal foul, while Staley was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Matthews made it clear in an interview prior to the NFL week-one matchup that getting hits on Kaepernick was a top priority for the Packer defense. "It looks as if as long as that quarterback is carrying out that fake, he loses his right as a pocket passer and rules that govern that," Matthews told CSNBayArea.com. "We'll see the hits that are legal and what's not legal, but we think our game plan fits within the scheme of the officials and what we want to do."
Although not a legal hit, since Staley was penalized as well, Matthews play shouldn’t have cost the Packers a down. A refereeing error allowed the 49ers to replay 3rd down instead of correctly ruling it 4th down with two yards to go. With the extra down, Jim Harbaugh was able to keep the field goal unit off the field, and Kaepernick was able to find Anquan Boldin for a touchdown pass that made the score 14-7.
San Francisco ended up beating the Packers 34-28.
– Chelsea Regan
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