Favre says Matthews' key roughing the passer penalty was 'textbook hit'

Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews received a vote of confidence from club legend Brett Favre on Tuesday following a controversial penalty in Sunday's 29-29 tie with the Minnesota Vikings.

Matthews was flagged for roughing the passer late in the fourth quarter, which negated an interception by Green Bay that appeared to all but seal the victory. After the game, referee Tony Corrente said the call was due to Matthews apparently picking up Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins and driving him into the ground.

Favre disagreed completely.

"I saw a textbook hit. It wasn't late," Favre said on SiriusXM NFL Radio via ESPN's Rob Demovsky. "I saw nothing that, you know, and Clay's had a history of those type of plays. This one was textbook and if you're going to use it as a teaching video, you teach that this is the way we expect you to tackle, and that's the way I saw it. And that's neither being a Clay Matthews or Packer fan, or a Minnesota Viking fan or hater, you know, that was a bad call. And to me, why not be able to review that?"

However, the NFL said Monday that officials made the correct decision. The league also plans to use the Matthews hit in an instructive tape being sent to teams.

Matthews told reporters he found the penalty "unbelievable" and said he didn't know what else to do on the play.

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