Lions players put fingers ‘where they’re not supposed to’ during critical play
Bills corner Taron Johnson gave fans an inside peek at what goes on inside a football scrum when a reporter asked what had been going on underneath the pile after a controversial onside kick called by the Lions in their 48-42 loss to Buffalo on Sunday.
The Bills held a 10-point lead with 12 minutes left when Lions head coach Dan Campbell opted to go for the onside kick, which ended in Buffalo recovering the ball and returning it to the 5-yard line.
Buffalo scored on the drive to extend its lead, but Johnson shocked people when he revealed the chaos that had been going on in the bottom of the pile during the onside kick.
“Whole lotta pulling, a whole lotta pinching, putting fingers where they’re not supposed to be and all that stuff. We just did a good job on that play,” Johnson said.
It wasn’t exactly clear what Johnson meant by the comment, but football piles have a tendency to be places where the rules don’t apply.
At least in the past.
Former NFL defensive end Jared Allen told the Mercury News in 2016 that “it’s no-holds-barred.”
“You got guys grabbing your balls, punching you in the chest, gouging your eyes. In the fumble pile, everything gets whacked. You’ve got 330-pound men jumping on you. Let me tell ya, get hit by guys that size with pads and helmets, and it gets ugly fast,” former Bills star Fred Smerlas told SB Nation in 2019.
Aaron Rodgers, at the time the quarterback of the Packers, even recalled someone biting him on the bottom of a football pile back in 2008.
“I was looking down and he was biting my arm, so I had to get his teeth off my shoulder,” the quarterback said.
The controversial decision to go for the onside kick was one that Campbell told reporters “I wish I wouldn’t have done that.”