Kyle Long On Ziggy Ansah's Hit On Clausen: 'Bush League'
(CBS) Hobbled with a hip injury, Bears guard Kyle Long could do nothing but watch as Chicago fell 20-14 to Detroit at Soldier Field on Sunday.
That made Long feel especially helpless in late in the fourth quarter, when Bears quarterback Jimmy Clausen took a hard and illegal hit to the head from Lions defensive lineman Ziggy Ansah. The helmet-to-helmet hit not only drew a personal foul penalty but also the ire of Clausen, who hopped up and got in Ansah's face after his helmet flew off.
Long wanted to do the same from the sideline.
"It's unfortunate to see people still having hits like that, putting their heads down, bleeding at the head," Long said in an interview with Lin Brehmer on WXRT on Monday morning. "It's a bush league play, obviously. But we were excited to see that Jimmy wasn't too happy with it either, getting up in that guy's face. And Ziggy Ansah is not one of the smallest guys in the world. He's about 6-foot-7, 285, 290 pounds. So Jimmy getting into his face tells me something."
The Ansah hit wasn't the only play that had the Bears upset. Lions center Dominic Raiola also stomped on the ankles of Bears defensive lineman Ego Ferguson. Raiola claimed it was "unintentional," but the Bears weren't buying that excuse.
"We always talk about doing things the right way," Bears kicker Robbie Gould said on the Spiegel and Mannelly Show. "I just don't think there's any room for that in football.
"It's unwarranted. (Raiola) has a track record."
As for Long, he explained how he suffered his hip injury: in a post-practice walk-through Thursday, of all places.
"I came back from a couple days off Thursday for practice," Long said. "I had a really great practice, and then I pulled something in my hip after practice on Thursday in our post-practice walkthrough of all things.
"I wasn't even going against anybody. It's funny. I can hurt myself worse than somebody else can hurt me, so I should keep that in mind from now on.
Long added that he expects to return this coming Sunday in the season finale against the Vikings.
