Giants coach Harbaugh backs Skattebo and rips NFL over controversial flag: that is the way you are supposed to run

New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh has criticised the NFL over the controversial penalty called against his running back Cam Skattebo. The penalty came during the Giants’ win over the Houston Texans on Sunday.

In the game, Skattebo lowered his shoulder into Texans safety M.J. Stewart and delivered a forceful blow that sent Stewart to the turf. Officials assessed a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty against Skattebo. He ran for over 120 yards with a touchdown in that game.

Skattebo himself also ripped the NFL after the game. He said the league loves to post him when he does things like that, but also wants to take money from him. In his words, if he keeps getting flagged or fined for it, he will effectively be playing for free, but he will keep running the ball the way he wants to run it.

On Monday, Harbaugh was asked by reporters what he had said to the official during his own heated exchange, when he held back Skattebo, who was livid as he came off the field. Harbaugh replied that reporters had seen him expressing his opinion after the play, and that was how he felt about it.

Harbaugh admitted he understood why a yellow flag landed on the turf. The NFL is always trying to crack down on helmet-to-helmet contact, he noted, and the official thought Skattebo had led with the crown of his helmet when he hit Stewart.

But he then made an argument from human physiology and anatomy. Harbaugh said Skattebo runs low and has to run low. A runner has to run low to protect the football and to protect his body, and cannot give tacklers his chest. When you run low, your head is down there too, and you cannot move your head off your shoulders — a physical impossibility, in his words.

Harbaugh added that he did not believe his running back was trying to use his helmet as a weapon or a battering ram. Skattebo enjoys initiating contact; during the broadcast he was even featured in multiple commercials running through walls and other objects, because that is his thing.

Ultimately, Harbaugh believes Skattebo’s running style is the way you are supposed to run. That is how you protect yourself and the football. The old-school, punishing style helped the Giants pick up the win on Sunday, just as it has in past games.

So Harbaugh posed a question for the NFL: how exactly should Skattebo be running through the trenches?