Seahawks' Jadeveon Clowney Denies Intentionally Injuring Eagles' Carson Wentz

Seattle Seahawks star Jadeveon Clowney denied he went out of his way to intentionally injure Carson Wentz on the hit that knocked the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback out of Seattle's 17-9 win in the NFC wild-card round.

"It was a bang-bang play," Clowney said after the game, per ESPN's Tim McManus. "I don't intend to hurt anybody in this league, let me just put that out there. I've been down the injury road; it's not fun. My intention was not to hurt him. I was just playing fast."

Clowney also said after the game the Eagles have the "worst fans in the world" and that "there might be death threats" resulting from his hit, per USA Today's Nate Davis.  

In the first quarter, Wentz was scrambling out of the pocket when he dove forward rather than sliding. As the quarterback was on the way down, Clowney connected with a helmet-to-helmet hit. The Eagles announced their starting signal-caller was being evaluated for a head injury, and he didn't return to the game.

Shawn Smith, who was on the officiating crew, explained why Clowney didn't receive a penalty for the hit.

"Carson Wentz was a runner, and he did not give himself up," Smith said. "We saw incidental helmet contact, and in our judgment, we didn't rule that to be a foul."

In the Eagles' locker room, Zach Ertz said the hit was "late," while teammate Jason Peters called it "dirty."

Josh McCown replaced Wentz and played well given his sudden promotion. He finished 18-of-24 for 174 yards, though his limitations were clear when the Eagles entered the red zone.

Philadelphia settled for field goals twice after venturing inside Seattle's 20-yard line in the second half, and McCown was sacked on 4th-and-7 at the Seahawks' 10-yard line on what proved to be the team's final drive.

Losing Wentz was a fatal blow for an offense that was already playing short-handed.