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Wilfork on hit
FOXBOROUGH -- Nose tackle Vince Wilfork drew a large media crowd in the Patriots' locker room today, and said he's reached out to Bills QB J.P. Losman to let him know he did not intend to injure him in Sunday's game.
Wilfork and Losman have yet to connect. Wilfork, who has yet to hear from the NFL regarding a potential fine, feels his reputation is taking an unfair hit.
"Let me make something clear," he said while sitting at his locker, surrounded by cameras. "A lot of people probably listened to what I said and took it the wrong way. The only reason I talked about a fine is that they have a rule for quarterbacks -- if you hit them below the waist you're subject to a fine. A lot of people probably think that Wilfork doesn't care, he's looking for the fine. That wasn't the fact. I got penalized for that, there are consequences behind that.
"Did I mean to do that? No, far from that. Like I just said, if you know me as a person and a player, it wouldn't be an issue because they know I have too much respect and love for this game, and for players, for me to be a dirty player.
"So if you don't know me, don't judge me. Point blank, that's what I want people to know. You have a lot of people out there saying 'that was a dirty hit.' If you don't know me, get to know me. Because if you know me, that wouldn't be a question. I'm not a dirty player."
Wilfork was asked if he felt center Melvin Fowler was riding him on the hit on Losman, which came on the game's first play and knocked Losman out of the contest after three plays (knee strain).
"I have one guy tripping me up, and I have one guy hitting my left leg," Wilfork said. "Of course, that's the only reason I was falling. I'm mad at the reason, because he's hurt. That's a quarterback. That's what I regret. Him being a quarterback and getting hurt wasn't intentional."
Wilfork said he has some friends on the Bills and has reached out to Losman through them.
"I've tried to talk to him, as a person, to let him know how I feel about the whole situation. We have people blowing this thing out of proportion, saying how dirty I am. All these years I've been playing football, never once have I been labeled a dirty player. All of a sudden, I'm a dirty player. ...
"When I leave this earth, I'm going to leave with one thing, and that's my name. Don't bash my name because of one incident. As long as he understands that wasn't intentional, and that organization [understands], I'm fine."
Wilfork was asked to clear up how he landed on Losman, with his right elbow flexed as he was falling. The elbow made contact with Losman's knee.
"I have a million and one things going on in my mind," he said. "You're tripping, a 300-and-something pound [lineman] tripping, I have no idea what's going on. I don't know where my arm is at. Like I said, it wasn't intentional."
Your comments
(38)Yes, from what I saw on the replay, the Bill's offensive lineman knocked Wilfork off balance and into the quarterback.
Wilfork is a 100% class act. It was just unlucky, but that's football.
It certainly looked like a cheap shot that Wilfork could have prevented. That said I know first hand that you get caught up in the moment and your instincts to get to the QB can cause inadvertant hits to occur.
He definitely seemed to be pushed/tripped. The one part I question which was probably purely instinct was why his arm was extended as far as it was. I definitely think it was NOT intentional. Unfortunately for Vince, the whole world wants to find something "bad" about the Patriots, and are using this as an example.
If Vince didn't put his arm out, he probably would have landed full force on Losman's lower body and broken Losman's leg, like what happened to Theismann.
If he was trying to hit Losman, his arms would have been outstretched in order to wrap him up.
You're falling down, you're about to hit something, what do you do? You put out your forearm to break your fall.
IT'S FULL CONTACT FOOTBALL, THINGS LIKE THIS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN. IT IS THE NATURE OF A SPORT WHERE BIG MEN USE THEIR BODIES TO IMPEDE OTHER BIG MEN.
The Bills shoudl thank Wilfork. The rookie was far better than 'JP interception' ever will be.
Get use to it ! From a national view point we not only cheat but we are dirty as well. Losman needs a good excuse to stink. This injury is his excuse. Go Pat's -- BT
They say in college he was a cheap, dirty player. i don't know
I think the problem was how he first explained it -he was pretty flip and cavalier. He didn't show any concern about Losman. Plus, he kept saying he expected to be fined and therefore people automatically assume he was at fault. Vince likes to talk with the press and he should have known better in this case. Now, its damage control time!
Its not like he injured Joe Montana or something.. he put his arm out to to take the impact of the fall.
Getting back to Donte Stallworth. Its not like hes been dropping passes, he will have his time.
mpc755: I don't know about you, but I don''t use my forearm to break a fall. I extend my arms and use my hands.
With that said, I would take Vince's word for it. I don't think there was any way to avoid Losman the way he was going down.
Football is a rough sport. Vince Wilfork is one of the classiest guys on the Pats and I absolutely believe he would NEVER take out a quarterback intentionally. Keep it up Vince, you're the best!
Vince, You are an ideal sportsman to everyone that matters. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just looking for another way to drag the Pats through the mud. It's obvious to anyone with half a brain that the hit was not intentional. Keep up the great work! Go Pats!!!!!
I feel badly that Losman got hurt. No one wants to see that because, for one thing, it means that something like this could happen to Brady and that would be catastrohic to our season. Even though it looks bad on tape, Wilfork has been nothing but a stand-up guy and I seriously doubt that he intended to give Losman a cheap shot.
It was a cheap shot - plain and simple. No matter if he was pushed or not, he clearly extended his arm and moved it in a forward motion towards J.P.'s knee.
Vince, I commend you on being a top notch professional, and a credit to the sport. Things like this happen all of the time.. Anybody who has ever played football knows that things happen in a flash, and for anyone to second guess what happened is way out of line.. You're a Pro Bowl caliber linemen, and don't feel like you have to justify to anyone what happened !! Keep up the hard work and I'm proud that you're a classy person both on and off of the field...
What would you all say if it was Tom Brady that took the exact same hit? Not saying it was dirty, but saying that all you folks would be saying what a dirty hit it was. Consistency? Nah.
Let's just look at the physics of it - Vince was off balance and falling and no amount of strength is going to stop him from falling. And we also see the plays in SUPER SLOW motion, his brain had about half a second to comprehend what was happening as he fell and by the time anyone knew what was going on, the play was already well over.
Anybody with atleast one eye that works could see that he was tripped/pushed. Generally, when people are falling, they extend their arms to break the fall. Anybody trying to say that it was dirty is LOOKING for something to complain about and making themselves look rather foolish. The guy doing the color commentary for the Patriots game on TV apparently has problems with vision or judgement because he carelessly ridiculed Wilfork's play, labeling it low and intentional.
Vince, your a great player and one that I can point to with respect because you play the game with respect for your team and the other player. Just keep being you and don't listen to all the other talk from people who are looking for an arugment. If Losman coulld have gotten out of his own way this wouldn't be an issue today.
"mpc755: I don't know about you, but I don''t use my forearm to break a fall. I extend my arms and use my hands."
Would you use your hands to break your fall when there are ten other guys with cleats either on top of you or falling around you? I know I wouldnt.
Who cares Vince? Let them think what they want.
By the sound of this dross it appears that it's going to be a very long season for the Patriots in the media.
It's a brutal game with both large and extra-extra large human beings heaving and throwing their bodies in confined spaces. As such with this much mass coupled with the speed the game is played at today, there are going to be injuries to both Patriot's players and their opponents period. It's really that simple so let's move-on.
Vince should appeal this bogus $12,500 fine.
It's fine to support your team but dirty is dirty and that play was. As a former linman with no real right knee left I firmly believe Wilfork intended the hit in the heat of battle. He tried anything to stop the play. This time he crossed the line.
seafit: Good question, and something I hadn't thought about. I was expressing what my reflexes do when I fall. Are football players taught not to do that?
JP Losman is terrible if this were Manning it would have been a huge story, but with that said it wasn't a cheap shot. He is a class act and does not have a history of this.
Watch the You Tube Clip he lifted his arm out at enough of a degree to hit Losman's leg, then brought his arm down to cushion his fall
you guys are unreal, keep trying to convince yourselves that the patriots are a class act. "oh, well because vince said he didn't mean to do it that must be true". what is he going to do? tell everyone how he stuck his elbow out into Losman's knee and is a dirty player? you know what the bills may stink but at least we don't cheat and aren't cheap-shot artists. like you really needed to take out losman to win that game, it was completely unnecessary and stupid.
I was there. He beat his block and was pushed from behind. There was NO INTENT to injuey. Notice the amount of the fine. It would have been 6 figures IF the league office thought there was intent. You can throw all the stuff you want at the Pats, but they don't draft players with bad reps.
To the guy who said he was a dirty player in college, cite your source.
I don't think Wilfork is a dirty player (that takes more incidents to achieve). I do think he accelerated as he left his feet in the direction of Losman with his elbow extended. If another team did that to Brady all the die hards would be up in arms.
Wilfork did get pushed into Losman but on the way down he took a cheap shot. I'll bet he woud scream bloody murder if he got hit with a crackback block and it knocked him out for a few games.
Watch the play 100 times and you will see he didn't mean it.
I don't know what you people were watching. He definately shot out his arm right at his knee when falling down. Cheap shot all the way. If your falling, you put your arms to the ground to catch yourself, not aim it at the opponent's knee
move on people, it happened, it wasn't intentional, he was falling and I believe held out his arm to make contact and maybe trip the qb up but never did i think he tried to hurt JP Losman. Should move on, he got his fine, Vince is a good man and it's done. And noone's mentioning why Losman just stood there and let Wilfork get to him, didn't he feel the earth moving as Vince's 400 pounds of girth was coming at him? got to be nimble in there.
I can't speak for everyone else, but if it happened to Brady, I would still think it was unintentional. Replace Vince with anyone else, and replace JP with any other QB out there - my opinion would still be it was unintentional. Next time you trip/fall see what you can manage to intentionally do in that split second.
Let's see how you all feel when someone does that to Brady!