Justin Herbert hit has calls for Saints player’s suspension getting louder

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A day later, the rest of the NFL viewing audience appears to have woken up to the seemingly dirty hit on Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert in Week 8. 

For those out of the loop, Saints defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd twisted a downed Herbert’s ankle for much longer than necessary on Sunday, to the point Chargers lineman Bradley Bozeman dove in and got dirty too, drawing a flag. 

After the game, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh had some interesting comments about the whole thing. 

And on Monday, calls for a suspension in the name of player safety started in earnest. 

Here’s Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio: “It wasn’t a legitimate use of the “Gator Roll,” a technique cited in the past by those defending sketchy play. This was dirty. It was cheap. It was an intent to injure. And the NFL must respond accordingly. Shepherd should be suspended.”

We’ll find out later this week if the NFL takes action (and whether Bozeman gets a fine for his role, no matter how justified). 

For now, Florio isn’t the only one waking up to this whole sequence of events: 

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Chris Roling
CHRIS ROLING