During the second half of Thursday’s game at Detroit, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams took a low hit along the sideline from Lions linebacker Jack Campbell. Williams’ left knee buckled and it initially looked like he might have suffered a serious knee injury. After being evaluated in the medical tent, he returned to the game without missing an offensive snap.
After the match, Williams was asked by reporters if it was a fair game.
“Um, the knee is fine,” Williams said without directly answering the question. “Yeah, I – the game was fun. Put it that way. I really didn’t – you know, I really didn’t appreciate the game. It just kind of fell right on my knee. I’m definitely a little bit frustrated by it, you know, it’s not right .
Here’s the game. that was funky, but it was also clean. When the quarterback becomes a runner, a hit to the knee or below the knee is legal.
In this case, Williams apparently tried to do a Lamar Jackson-style freeze/stop, with Campbell flying over and Williams picking up more yards. It didn’t work.
When the quarterback leaves the pocket, he drops certain protections. Once he crosses the line of scrimmage, he loses all protections that do not otherwise apply to running backs.
Campbell was allowed to hit him low. For this reason, Williams should have been taken off the board. More importantly, he shouldn’t have tried to move on the sideline in hopes of making Campbell escape.
That Campbell didn’t miss is on Williams, not Campbell.