Offensive linemen are programmed to protect their quarterback at all costs and that mentality was on display following Thursday Night Football.
Buffalo Bills quarterback E.J. Manuel suffered a right knee injury on Thursday night against the Cleveland Browns, when Browns safety Tashaun Gipson delivered a hard — but legal — hit to Manuel’s knee as he was running down the sidelines.
Bills offensive lineman Eric Wood spoke on the injury and made it clear that he was unhappy with the way Cleveland acted after Manuel went down.
“The hit was fine,” Wood said, via ESPN.com. “What ticked me off was the way [the Browns] acted afterwards. I hope our defense never acts that way when they injure an opposing quarterback. You have to show some class in that situation.”
You wouldn’t expect anything less from an offensive lineman.
To be fair to the Browns, safety T.J. Ward denies that there was any taunting after Manuel was injured. Considering Cleveland lost a starting quarterback of their own to a torn ACL earlier in the game, they may have been feeling the Bills pain.
Regardless whether or not there was taunting after the hit, it is over and done with.
Buffalo will now just have to hope that Manuel’s MRI results come back clean.