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To say that Washington Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall has a history of undisciplined play would be an understatement. Hall added another lowlight to his reel on Sunday for an incident involving an official late in a loss at Pittsburgh after what he called a “cheap shot,” from Steelers receiver Emmanuel Sanders. Hall is now facing a possible suspension by the NFL for his actions against an official. Hall gives his side of the story from the camera angle that NFL fans couldn’t see on Sunday. The Washington Redskins corner believes there were a few missed calls and his comments needed to be made to the official. DeAngelo Hall joined 106.7 The Fan in D.C. with The LaVar Arrington Show with Chad Dukes to discuss not being bothered by the media and general public viewing him as a thug, why he flipped out on a referee during an altercation with Emmanuel Sanders and the referee not being innocent in this whole altercation.
How does being viewed the way that you are impact you and your play? People use words like ‘thug’ and ‘misfit.’ What is your response to those judgements?
“I actually haven’t heard anything or read anything like that, so I really don’t know what is being said besides what you just said to me about a second ago. I think anybody that knows me when I decided to do this show I felt like the connection between me and him [Chad Dukes] had been pretty good and pretty positive. I feel like anybody who sees me or meets me off the football field sees who I really am and they know me and respect me as a person and as a man. As far as people labeling me a thug or misfit or all that, I’ve been labeled that since I was 13 years old. It’s just kind of where I grew up and where I come from and kind of the image that has been portrayed in our culture, as silly as it is, but that’s kind of how it is. That really doesn’t bother me. People who know me and coaches who get to coach me and people who get to be around me, they kind of know who I am and that kind of speaks for that. As far as my play on the field goes, I’m going to give 100 percent every single time I step on the field, man. It could be my last time out there and I don’t want to take it for granted. Every time I step foot on that field I try to give 100 percent, so that’s the way I continue to keep playing this game. And when coaches and GMs feel like I can’t do it no more then I will be out of the league. You know that as quick as anybody else. I continue to keep doing it until I can’t do it anymore, until people feel like I can’t do it anymore.”
What happened on the play with Emmanuel Sanders and what caused you to react the way you did on the referee?
“I thought it was a cheap shot. I got a lot of respect for the Steelers organization and their team, and they came in and handed us a pretty good butt-whooping. Me being frustrated at the game had nothing to do with it or that particular play. The receiver went to block me and I went to block him right back just as hard as him, and then I continued to get the back of my helmet pulled up and like slammed or whatever ya’ll want to say. The receiver still gets in my face and talks trash. I immediately walked away from him and start talking to the ref, like I’m asking the ref, ‘Are you kidding me?’ That wasn’t the words I used, [but] I’m just asking him, ‘Did you not just see what took place right there?’ Mike Shanahan, in his office, told me that when I got the first flag, how proud he was of me ’cause he knows me. Everyone in the locker room knows me, but the old me, when I got slammed, I mean that guy would have been boxing from right there and we both would have gotten thrown out of the game.
You know what I mean? But for me to walk away from that incident and plead with the ref and beg like, ‘Dude, what do I have to do to get a flag?’ Dude just slammed me; nothing happened. I don’t understand what you are looking at if you are trying to keep the game safe and the way it’s supposed to be played. There’s no way that particular play shouldn’t have drawn a flag. As far as the helmet coming off and all that? He had already pulled off my helmet halfway off and it was a TV timeout … Well, it wasn’t a TV timeout. We called a timeout, so helmets could come off during timeouts, so that wasn’t why I got flagged, because the helmet was off and things like that. It was just a back and fourth between me and that particular ref and I can’t go into too many details because it’s still under review, but that’s how it took place. If you look at the TV copy, you won’t only see me. That’s why we are trying to get other copies and other angles, so you can see both sides, but me and the ref was equally at fault on that particular play.”
After looking back at the play a day later do you have any regrets with the way you handled it? What made you react like that?
“Looking back on it, you would obviously change everything. You know what I mean? That’s kind of how it works in society. If you could go back and change things, you would. They are not going to take that particular play back and what happened after that. The NFL and the NFLPA is trying to figure out a solution, so that problem doesn’t happen again. You know what I mean? There’s not a system in place where good cop, or they are the good cops and we are the criminals, you know what I mean? It has to be an even playing field or level playing field. If they want us to go out there and respect them, they have to do the same thing and they have to give us the same kind of respect that I feel like we have been giving them, as players and as referees that ultimately control some of the calls made in these games. Nobody is going out there trying to bully the referees, and likewise, they shouldn’t be out there trying to bully us.
Like I said, from that particular camera angle you can’t see what that ref is saying to me, so it looks like I am out there giving him a piece of my mind and smiling and walking away. That’s not the case at all. He’s dishing it out just as much as I am dishing it out and that’s the point of view that I am trying to get out, and we’re trying to get out with my team of guys. That’s why we want to sit with the commissioner and whatever comes about this, and we want to tell our side of the story. … It shouldn’t be a situation where he said and I said one thing where I am telling you I said this and it’s he-said and she-said. I’m not a criminal and I’ve never been in trouble with the law. I am great guy, like I said. Off the field, I am a different person than I am on the field, so what I do on the field should play in context to being able to question my character and the things I feel like they said to me and vice versa. So we just get another point of view and make sure we get as much proof as possible that happened in that situation and bring it to the forefront and come up with the right solution sending it down to both sides.”
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