The Arizona Cardinals’ 20-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles will be remembered for the 43-yard field goal that kicker Matt Ammendola missed in the final seconds. Had he made it, the game likely would have gone into overtime.
Naturally, the reaction from fans is to blame Ammendola for missing the kick and to suggest he should be cut immediately.
Ammendola spoke to reporters after the game about the missed kick. He said it felt good off his foot and that he would have to look back at the tape to see what went wrong.
In the middle of his postgame interview, offensive lineman Justin Pugh interrupted with some strong words for reporters and likely fans. He also had words of encouragement for Ammendola.
“It’s not one (expletive) guy,” Pugh said. “I missed a block. We missed touchdowns. We should have had the ball and been able to score. It’s not on one (expletive) guy.”
He then told him to “keep (his) (expletive) head up” so that they can rely on him another time.
Pugh had his teammate’s back. He didn’t like seeing reporters waiting to talk to the guy who missed the kick. He was clearly fired up about the loss, as were many of the Cardinals players.
Ammendola was not the reason the Cardinals lost, but he did not make the kick to keep them from losing.
That is frustrating, for sure, but Pugh wasn’t wrong when he attempted to deflect some of the blame from Ammendola for the results of a very disappointing finish.
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