October 30, 2017
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the NFL is looking into a block by Philadelphia Eagles DT Fletcher Cox that broke San Francisco 49ers OT Joe Staley's orbital bone, for potential league discipline that could include a suspension.
NFL reviewing the play on which Fletcher Cox broke Joe Staley’s orbital bone for potential discipline and possible suspension, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 30, 2017
The hit in question was on Jalen Mills' interception return for a touchdown near the end of the second quarter.
The NFL's GamePass offering has not yet cut up the All-22 version of the game just yet, so there is no good view of Cox's hit at this time. If you slow down the hit on the TV feed, you can at least see that Cox either tried to hold up a bit on his hit, or pretended to.
Obviously, you can tell very little from that.
Cox has been a force along the Eagles' defensive line this season, as he has 4.5 sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a game-sealing TD, despite being the focus of opposing offensive line game plans.
When the NFL updates their offering with an All-22 view, we'll update with what we see.
The NFL still hasn't released the All-22 on its GamePass offering yet, however, in this All-22 film breakdown with Fran Duffy and Greg Cosell on the team's website, they show a sideline view of the All-22. I zoomed in as best as I could, but it's still hard to see exactly what happened.
Doug Pederson was asked if he saw the hit, and even with the benefit of the coaches' film, he too could not tell.
"I have seen it," Pederson confirmed. "Just like you mentioned, it's hard to even see it on the coaches' copy exactly what had happened. There was contact, obviously, but it's so far away it's hard to tell, without getting a little bit closer, it's hard to tell exactly what happened at that point."
Pederson said he has not yet seen Cox to ask him what happened.
Here's a closer, non-Zapruder-looking view from CBS' Pat Gallen.
Here's the best view #CBS3 has of the Fletcher Cox hit in question on Joe Staley. Looks a bit high, Staley hunches somewhat. pic.twitter.com/iIXl0ZjISv
— Pat Gallen (@PatGallenCBS3) October 30, 2017
Again, it's hard to see exactly what happened. During the telecast, FOX did not show any replays of the hit from any of their other TV cameras. The NFL will likely have access to those views, but if FOX did not show it, they probably don't have any good looks of it either.
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