Last Thursday, the Browns had a good all-around game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, where they won 29-17. But, there was one big low-light in the game for Cleveland, which came at the hands of Chuks Okorafor.
Anthony Walker Jr. Injured by Chuks Okorafor
Not only was Walker injured on the play, but his season was ended with a leg injury.
In what looked like a very questionable play by Okorafor, he got a block on Walker, and then he decided to jump on top of him.
https://twitter.com/John_Sabol/status/1573153855923453952?s=20&t=B3wqbrb9AOw_Ed6sdwPM-Q
Per cleveland.com, after the game, Myles Garrett had this to say about Okorafor’s decision.
“That was a bull—- play. He’s not moving. You don’t jump on a guy. That was a bull—- play.”
But, Okorafor just said that during the moment, he was just “playing ball.”
According to Sports Illustrated, Browns’ guard Wyatt Teller understands making plays in the moment, but he said that he never wants to see anyone get hurt.
“I pray that it was just a split-second decision and he made the wrong decision, which I’ve done. I’ve had late hits, inadvertent chop blocks or something crazy like that. But I don’t want to hurt them. There’s nasty stuff and then there’s inadvertent stuff and it seemed like that wasn’t exactly inadvertent. It seemed like he wanted to cause more pain, which is weird. But the NFL will handle that.”
Teller made it clear that he doesn’t believe that Chuks Okorafor is a dirty player, though. But, Sports Illustrated also reported that he does want him to make better decisions.
“I’ve never seen him do that before. It’s not like he has this name for being a crazy, mean (guy) but I just think you’ve got to be smart. There’s a brotherhood beyond all of the city stuff. The fans that hate each other, let them fight in the stands. I want to win, but there’s a brotherhood and I don’t want you to be hurt. I don’t want you to spend any time off the field. I want you to feed your kids.”
This is all a very sad situation. We know that Chuks Okorafor is not a dirty player, but it’s such a strange decision to jump on top of a player that is clearly injured.
We’ll just have to see if the NFL does anything about what he did.
