Clifton - the NFL's elder statesman LT

[VermontPackFan]

A play does not have to be illegal or warrant a penalty to be dirty (or "cheap" if you prefer that term). As a long time NFL defenseman once told me, he was faced many times each season with situations in which he could have taken out an unsuspecting or unprotected opponent. While it often happens in the heat of a play, he said that far more often players hold up and protect each other, because careers are on the line and they rely on each other. We see and remember the bad ones, because they are infrequent due to discretion of the players, not lack of opportunity.

With that in mind, I have no problem calling Sapp's play dirty and cheap.

Disagree, it was a legal hard nosed aggressive play. The only reason the play was even mentioned on TV and the news after the game was because Clifton was seriously hurt by falling on his hip. Remember, he didnt get a hurt from the hit, he got hurt from the fall. Sapp didnt break his jaw, nose or give him a concussion. He hit him shoulder to shoulder. Those types of plays happen multiple times in every game. We only think it was dirty because it seriously hurt one of our favorite players. Sapp only celebrated because he got an awesome hit on the OT he had been doing battle with all game. I am 100% positive he would not have celebrated the way he did if he knew Clifton was seriously injured.

[VermontPackFan]

Yoop, that hit was just as dirty. Even tho I have no love for McMahon he never was the same QB after that. To me Martin was as big a thug as Sapp. Whatever happened to that clown anyway?

Now that was a dirty play...no question about it.

[VermontPackFan]

Plenty of guys have had the opportunity to make one of those hits, and Sapp was one of the few who actually went over the line and did it--threatening another player's career.

And plenty of guys take shot like that every game...think Hines Ward. The Sapp-Clifton hit was only talked about so much because of the serious injury to Clifton's hip. Sapp didnt do it to intentionally threaten Clifton's career, he did because he was getting his ass wupped by Clifton all game, was frustrated and because he could...

[sharpe1027]

Disagree, it was a legal hard nosed aggressive play. The only reason the play was even mentioned on TV and the news after the game was because Clifton was seriously hurt by falling on his hip. Remember, he didnt get a hurt from the hit, he got hurt from the fall. Sapp didnt break his jaw, nose or give him a concussion. He hit him shoulder to shoulder. Those types of plays happen multiple times in every game. We only think it was dirty because it seriously hurt one of our favorite players. Sapp only celebrated because he got an awesome hit on the OT he had been doing battle with all game. I am 100% positive he would not have celebrated the way he did if he knew Clifton was seriously injured.

That type of hit carries a high risk of injury. Given that there was no football reason to make the play, what reason was there for the hit? He wasn't doing it to help the play, the only thing that makes sense to me he was that doing it to hurt Clifton. He wasn't thinking of a career threatening injury, but he was certainly trying to cause him pain for no reason related to the sport/play. I would call that a pussy move in any sport.

As for you "certainty" that he would not have celebrated, I disagree. He knew Clifton was injured shortly after the play and yet he gave interviews where it was clear that he was still celebrating how great a hit it was. He still gloats about it to this day. He is trash.

[sharpe1027]

And plenty of guys take shot like that every game...think Hines Ward.

Not when they are jogging no where near the play and with no chance of ever being in the play.

[swede]

That type of hit carries a high risk of injury. Given that there was no football reason to make the play, what reason was there for the hit? He wasn't doing it to help the play, the only thing that makes sense to me he was that doing it to hurt Clifton. He wasn't thinking of a career threatening injury, but he was certainly trying to cause him pain for no reason related to the sport/play. I would call that a pussy move in any sport.

As for you "certainty" that he would not have celebrated, I disagree. He knew Clifton was injured shortly after the play and yet he gave interviews where it was clear that he was still celebrating how great a hit it was. He still gloats about it to this day. He is trash.

+1

As for the notion he was hurt by the "fall"...? Gimme a break. Sapp separated Clifton's spine from his pelvis and enjoys talking about it yet.

Trash.

[VermontPackFan]

+1

As for the notion he was hurt by the "fall"...? Gimme a break. Sapp separated Clifton's spine from his pelvis and enjoys talking about it yet.

Trash.

His pelvis and his spine were fine, he injured his hip when he fell

[VermontPackFan]

Not when they are jogging no where near the play and with no chance of ever being in the play.

Have you ever heard the phrase " you have to keep your head on a swivel?" The reason a phrase like that even exists is because players get blindsided every game.

[VermontPackFan]

Given that there was no football reason to make the play, what reason was there for the hit?

He did it to knock the snot out of Clifton, possibly a payback for getting manhandled by the Packers OL.

[bobblehead]

I agree, Sapp was out to make a name for himself, Clifton had held him in check all day and he had a score to settle, he went head hunting for for Cliffy had a head of steam and blind sided him, really a cheap shot, and his attitude afterward spoke volumes about the charecter of Warren Sapp, the bad part now is he didn't disapear, we now get to listen to the clown at NFL net. the graveyard for wanna b sports announcers.

Pugger, I thought that hit by Martin was less vicious, Charles was on our side

The attitude afterwards was my problem. When you are on the football field you better be looking to hit someone....because I damn sure garauntee someone is looking to hit you. After the game, when you realize you got carried away you should apologize, send flowers and be decent. Warren wasn't. Was the hit dirty? No. Cheap? Yes.

[cheesner]

Disagree, it was a legal hard nosed aggressive play. The only reason the play was even mentioned on TV and the news after the game was because Clifton was seriously hurt by falling on his hip. Remember, he didnt get a hurt from the hit, he got hurt from the fall. Sapp didnt break his jaw, nose or give him a concussion. He hit him shoulder to shoulder. Those types of plays happen multiple times in every game. We only think it was dirty because it seriously hurt one of our favorite players. Sapp only celebrated because he got an awesome hit on the OT he had been doing battle with all game. I am 100% positive he would not have celebrated the way he did if he knew Clifton was seriously injured.

Bullshit. Sapp was still laughing his ass off on the sideline while Packer medical staff had surrounded Cliffy and Cliffy wasn't moving. Fuck him.

[bobblehead]

Disagree, it was a legal hard nosed aggressive play. The only reason the play was even mentioned on TV and the news after the game was because Clifton was seriously hurt by falling on his hip. Remember, he didnt get a hurt from the hit, he got hurt from the fall. Sapp didnt break his jaw, nose or give him a concussion. He hit him shoulder to shoulder. Those types of plays happen multiple times in every game. We only think it was dirty because it seriously hurt one of our favorite players. Sapp only celebrated because he got an awesome hit on the OT he had been doing battle with all game. I am 100% positive he would not have celebrated the way he did if he knew Clifton was seriously injured.

You are partially wrong. He was hurt on the hit. Sapp hit him at an angle and twisted cliffys body against the lower body causing the pelvis injury. He launched himself at a player that wasn't looking for contact or to be involved in the play. It was legal. It was cheap. It wasn't dirty, as dirty implies against the rules.

You are fully wrong about him celebrating after he knew the extent of the injury. He sat right there on ESPN being a cocksucker AFTER the game when we all knew cliffy was hurt pretty bad. He didn't say sorry. Didn't express concern for the man. He is a cocksucker who made a legal hit that was in fact 100% cheap due to the fact that clifton had no intention of being involved in the play.

[bobblehead]

His pelvis and his spine were fine, he injured his hip when he fell

Wrong again, it was classified as a pelvic twist.

[Patler]

Paul Zimmerman didn't think it was just hardnosed football:

Sapp will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012, and there will be some, like Sports Illustrated's Paul Zimmerman, who will likely take into account the hit on Clifton when contemplating Sapp's credentials. As Zimmerman wrote in SI shortly after the play, of which the NFL called legal and never handed out a fine, "Sapp was just getting a free one on a guy who wasn't expecting it. He was crippling the dummy. It was a mean, nasty hit that might have ended a person's career and given him a lifelong souvenir of pain. I always knew Sapp was a phony, but I underestimated his vicious streak."

While a "legal" hit at the time, it very likely would not be now. From the NFL website:

In many ways, the 2002 on-field collision between Warren Sapp and Clifton was just like a car wreck. Two 300-pound athletes -- one coming full steam with both feet off the ground, the other in a light jog with no idea what was to come -- colliding. And while Sapp came away from the wreckage unscathed, his devastating blindside hit during an interception return -- one that made headlines and eventually led to an NFL rules change -- violently drove Clifton to the turf, where the Packers offensive tackle lay motionless for several minutes in excruciating pain.
...
Three years after the incident, league owners, under the recommendation of the NFL Competition Committee, broadened the interpretation of the unnecessary roughness rule, emphasizing the word "unnecessary" and making illegal similar hits on plays away from the action on the field.

[Patler]

His pelvis and his spine were fine, he injured his hip when he fell

Wrong again, it was classified as a pelvic twist.

Yup, Bobblehead has it right. It was described once as a wrenching action of the upper body while the lower body stayed still, which tore and strained everything that that connected the pelvis bones together and to his upper body.

From an article on the injury:

Fortunately, the injury never involved Clifton's hip joints. The brunt of the damage took place where the two bones of the pelvis join, called the pubic symphysis, a massive ligament that keeps the bones together. Clifton had suffered a three-centimeter tear of the symphysis. From a joint standpoint, nothing had been displaced.