National Football League

Pollard defends hit that drew penalty

Published Aug. 9, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

That didn’t take long.

Bernard Pollard spent all of five minutes being penalty-free before he drew his first personal foul – in the preseason opener against the Washington Redskins.

On Thursday night, after Aldrick Robinson pulled in a pass for a 15-year gain, Pollard reportedly ran up, lowered his head and hit Robinson in the back as he was stepping out of bounds. He was immediately flagged for unnecessary roughness and penalized 15 yards.

Many analysts have weighed in with multiple reports saying an NFL penalty is expected to follow the unnecessarily rough hit on an opponent who was already on his way out of bounds.

As for Pollard, he appeared to think he was simply a marked man.

“I don't know. I guess I'm pegged or whatever, I can't think about that. We've got to set the tone. In our secondary, if you catch the ball, and we're around you, we're gonna hit you,” Pollard told TitanInsider after the game.