It looked like a devastating blow for the San Francisco 49ers defense Sunday when linebacker Dre Greenlaw was ejected in the second quarter.
Greenlaw with 6:30 to go was flagged for hitting Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold after he went out of bounds. It was a close play, but one Greenlaw probably could've avoided and one that is certainly worthy of a personal foul penalty under the NFL rules. What happened after was something that can't happen.
After the play in a scuffle on the Seattle sideline, Greenlaw headbutted Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones who was not wearing a helmet. It was the kind of action that's going to get a player ejected, and Vice President of Instant Replay Mark Butterworth confirmed to ESPN's Brady Henderson after
the game why Greenlaw was disqualified.
"The clubs passed a rule this year that the AMGC (Art McNally Gameday Central in New York) can actually eject a player even when there is not a flag down on the field for the action," Butterworth told Henderson. "But in this case, there was a flag down on the field. When they went to the sideline, the player in question actually head-butted a non-helmeted player on the sideline. We have a very specific process we go through. (NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations) Troy Vincent let us know that the player was ejected, so then I communicated with the field to inform them that number 57 was ejected from the game for a non-football act. "
That's about as straightforward as it gets.
Even in a heat-of-the-moment scenario, a player wearing a helmet can't do something as dangerous as headbutting a player not wearing a helmet. The act didn't injure Jones in any way, but it certainly could have which is why the league isn't going to let a player get away with it.
San Francisco's defense recovered from the loss of their tone-setting linebacker. They won't want to play many more games without him, though, so ideally Greenlaw won't receive any additional suspension or have this sort of in-game issue again.
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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Dre Greenlaw ejection: What NFL officials said about 49ers LB
