Flag for being ‘too aggressive’ stuns Jags’ Walker

• Michael DiRocco, ESPN Staff WriterNov 10, 2024, 06:23 PM ET

  Close

  Michael DiRocco is an NFL reporter at ESPN. DiRocco covers the Jacksonville Jaguars. He previously covered the University of Florida for over a decade for ESPN.com and Florida Times-Union. DiRocco graduated from Jacksonville University and is a multiple APSE award winner. You can follow DiRocco on Twitter at @ESPNdirocco.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jaguars defensive end Travon Walker didn’t expect to be penalized for unnecessary roughness for trying to punch the football free from Minnesota running back Aaron Jones late in the Vikings‘ 12-7 victory at EverBank Field.

He was surprised when he saw the yellow flag, and even more surprised when he talked to the official who threw the flag.

“The ref basically, literally, said I was too aggressive after the whistle was blown,” Walker said. “So that definitely surprised me — [the] referee telling me that I’m too aggressive in the game of football.”

Editor’s Picks

1 Related

The penalty came after the Jaguars stopped Jones a yard short of a first down on third-and-7 from the Vikings’ 4-yard line with a minute remaining. The flag gave the Vikings a first down, and Sam Darnold took two knees to run out the clock.

The Jaguars didn’t have any timeouts remaining and wouldn’t have had much time to put together a potential game-winning drive had Walker not been penalized. The offense was also having one of the worst days in franchise history — Jacksonville’s 143 yards was the team’s fifth-lowest total — and had managed just 23 yards and held the ball for only 2 minutes, 18 seconds in the fourth quarter.

“I own up to that [penalty], but in the midst of it, I hope everybody on my team knows what I was doing, and that’s what matters,” Walker said.

Source