Broncos safety Kareem Jackson has already been fined multiple times this season, ejected twice and suspended for two games for lowering his helmet to make contact with opponents. It looks like Jackson hasn’t learned his lesson.
Jackson forced a fumble early in Sunday night’s win over the Vikings by lowering his helmet and hitting Vikings quarterback Josh Dobbs. The officials didn’t flag it, but they should have. Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell was measured in his comments afterward, but he said it looked like a penalty to him.
“Yes, it felt like that on the field,” O’Connell said when asked if Jackson should have been flagged. “I’ll have to go back and look at it. It usually seems to happen pretty quickly there, but at that point, the way he came from the second level, it seemed like a pretty direct helmet-to-helmet type hit. But I’m sure they saw it differently in the play. They run a fast game there. But yeah. . . . The rule is what it is. They didn’t wave the flag.”
It wasn’t actually a helmet-to-helmet hit, but Jackson used the top of his helmet to connect with Dobbs’ body, which is also a penalty. Or should be. The officials missed it, but the NFL’s disciplinary office probably won’t.