Lions still ticked off about Hall's cheap shot on Kitna
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
By Tom Kowalski
ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions are tired of getting pushed around and they're going to do something about it.
There were some signs of that during Sunday's 30-14 victory against the Atlanta Falcons, from the way running back Kevin Jones punished defenders to quarterback Jon Kitna fighting back after a cheap shot.
Lions center Dominic Raiola ratcheted it up a little on Monday when he promised retribution against Atlanta cornerback DeAngelo Hall, the player who was penalized for the late hit on Kitna.
"If he's on the field, I'm going to get him. I promise you. I promise you," Raiola said. "That's cheap. That's cheap, man. He's done that two weeks in a row now -- try to hurt somebody."
Jones, who roomed with Hall for one year when they played together at Virginia Tech, said the Lions had watched film of certain Atlanta players in previous weeks and were on the lookout for cheap shots.
"I like to call him (Hall) a cheap-shot artist because he tried to hurt, I think it was (Cincinnati Bengals running back) Rudi Johnson last week. Somebody held him up, and he took a shot at him at the back of his knee," Raiola said. "If he thinks that's football, he's got another thing coming because I'm going to see him again."
The play that sparked Raiola's anger was a 17-yard scramble by Kitna who, after beginning his slide to the ground, was hit in the side of the head by Hall's forearm. Linebacker Michael Boley was also in on the tackle and Kitna, not knowing who hit him in the head, started scuffling with Boley.
Hall, who was penalized 15 yards for unnecessary roughness on the play, will likely be fined by the league for a blow to the head.
"They'll fine him for that, for sure," Raiola said. "Because when Kit went after Boley, DeAngelo Hall came after Kit in the back of his head . . . When I think about that, I get fired up. They try to protect quarterbacks, and then they take a shot like that at him. All Kit was doing was standing up for himself, you know? He was in a defenseless position. DeAngelo came with an elbow in the back of his head."
Several of Kitna's teammates said they were fired up after the skirmish.
"Oh man, that was huge," said Lions defensive tackle Cory Redding. "I record the game every week myself . . . I got a chance to watch that, and man, I rewound that like 10 times.
"Just seeing him (Kitna) get up, not even hit the guy who hit him, but just saw another color (jersey) and went at him. That's temporary insanity, you know. That guy just went after him. That's what you want to see. I would have that guy in my foxhole any day. Just get up and go after somebody, you don't see that out of quarterbacks."
After promising to get even with Hall, Raiola said he was ready to put the matter behind him. Well, almost.
"That's behind us now," he said. "They probably think that game's behind them. We've got bigger and better things to worry about. I promise you, if I see him on the field again, I'll try and take his head off. I'm serious. That's all I've got to say about that."
Raiola said he wasn't worried about his words getting back to the Falcons.
"I don't care. Go ahead and put them up in their locker room. I could care less," said Raiola, adding that he isn't worried about Hall either. "DeAngelo Hall? That's the least of my worries."
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