No, that hit on Aaron Rodgers wasn’t a dirty play (Video)

Aaron Rodgers was taken out by a nasty hit from Anthony Barr, and Packers fans are crying foul.

The Green Bay Packers with Aaron Rodgers under center are one of the best teams in the NFL. Without him — well, we don’t know what they look like. He’s mostly always been healthy meaning we haven’t had to watch too many Packers games without him in it.

That’s all going to change, probably.

Rodgers was carted to the Packers locker room during Week 6, following a hit by Anthony Barr. Even before Rodgers was taken to the locker room with what looks like a pretty serious shoulder injury, folks were calling the play dirty.

Usually, in these cases, fans of the injured player are very quick to pull the ‘dirty hit’ card, even when it’s not. We simply need an explanation for injuries when they happen. Especially when they involve star players.

In this instance fans were wrong.

As you can see on the replay, Rodgers was scrambling away from the pocket — which is the first thing that makes this hit a legal one. Had Rodgers been sitting in the pocket and Barr hit him, that would have been roughing the passer. But because Rodgers was scrambling, Barr was in pursuit of his target and therefore could put a hit on him.

The part of the hit that Packers fans will take exception to is the way that Barr drove Rodgers into the turf. It didn’t seem malicious, but the optics of it now look very bad knowing that the Packers could be without their quarterback for a while.

It’s a legitimate gripe, but nothing that Barr did was illegal. It’s Aaron Rodgers we’re talking about, if there was a flag the NFL could have thrown in his favor it would have been thrown. If there’s an argument Packers fans can make, it’s not about the legality of the hit but the intention of it. Barr didn’t intend to injure Rodgers, but he also wasn’t playing tag football with him. In a rivalry as heated as the Packers-Vikings rivalry, fans will no doubt try to make that distinction.

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Losing Rodgers hurts but trying to deem this a dirty hit is putting your energy into the wrong conversation.