Patriots WR N’Keal Harry says Quandre Diggs reached out to him about dirty hit
By Jerry Trotta
Patriots wideout N’Keal Harry revealed that Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs contacted him after Week 2.
A scary moment transpired near the end of the first quarter during the Patriots-Seahawks matchup on Sunday night when New England was looking to cash in on a fourth-down play.
With the game tied 7-7 and Russell Wilson evidently already in a groove offensively, the call by head coach Bill Belichick made complete sense as field goals were simply not going to be a difference maker.
However, the gutsy decision almost came at the expense of one of his players. Cam Newton hit wide receiver N’Keal Harry over the middle of the field for a 12-yard gain and he was met with a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit by Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs.
Harry somehow held on to the ball and eventually got back to his feet after (understandably) spending some time on the ground shaken up by the illegal hit. As you could tell by his immediate reaction, there was no ill intent behind Diggs’ tackle and he wanted to clear the air by reaching out to the Patriots wideout after the game.
N’Keal Harry says Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs reached to him to let him know his hit wasn’t intentional. Harry said it meant a lot to him, even though he never felt the hit (which led to Diggs’ ejection) was intentional. pic.twitter.com/oSUzmCsciI
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) September 22, 2020
"“He reached out and he made it clear that he was not trying to hurt me and it was not intentional,” Harry told reporters during a video conference on Tuesday. “When it happened, I didn’t think it was intentional either. I know that when you’re out on the field, stuff happens super, super quickly. So I never felt like it was intentional. I think it was just one of those football plays. So I had already kind of figured that he wasn’t trying to do that. Him reaching out definitely meant a lot in the same regard.”"
It’s easy to throw accusations around about players being dirty after watching a slow motion replay, but the speed of the game is almost impossible to judge for defenders when they’re flying in to record tackles, especially in a fourth-down play.
Diggs’ awesome gesture proves that, though it didn’t help his case with the referees, who rightfully ejected him and flagged the Seahawks for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
After Harry revealed that Diggs reached out to him, the two players engaged in a peacemaking exchange on Twitter to confirm there was no beef between them.
https://twitter.com/NkealHarry15/status/1308508183816736769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1308508183816736769%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpatriotswire.usatoday.com%2F2020%2F09%2F22%2Fpatriots-nkeal-harry-quandre-diggs-twitter-targeting-ejection%2F
Harry, as we know, stayed in the game and his courageous reception ultimately proved to be a big one as the Patriots scored a go-ahead touchdown on a Newton scamper a few plays later. Though his intentions weren’t evil and we respect the heck out of him for making it a priority to get in touch with Harry after the game, Diggs should expect to hear from the NFL office this week about a pricey fine.
If there was ever an example for players about how to treat helmet-to-helmet blows — assuming they were unintentional, of course — this is it. Credit to Harry and Diggs for being as professional as they come in the wake of such a troubling moment.
