During Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Browns, the Detroit Lions were assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty between the third and fourth quarters. While the FOX broadcast was away to commercial and play was stopped, Lions left guard Jonah Jackson received the costly penalty.
It turns out Jackson said something quite unsavory about Browns defensive end Jadeveon Clowney’s mother. It must have been quite the exchange to earn a penalty in a game where both sides were talking back-and-forth most of the afternoon.
Jackson acknowledged the penalty and admitted it was a poor decision to cross the line by saying whatever he said to Clowney.
“First of all I should have never even put my team in that situation, but it was the heat of the moment, heat of the game,” Jackson said after the game. “We actually chopped it up after, apologized. It was both sides, but definitely should have never been in that situation to begin with.”
The Lions headed to the break between quarters having just picked up a first down, crossing midfield on a nice D’Andre Swift run. The flag pushed them back to 1st-and-25 in their own territory and ruined a promising drive.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell seemed dumbfounded by the unusual penalty. He had to address the situation in his postgame press conference.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Campbell said. “It was something that is said. It was something about somebody’s mother, OK? And there was a lot of talking going on out there, but so it was a penalty.”
