Clay Matthew's Late Hit on Kap Ends in Fight

A late hit on quarterback Colin Kaepernick led to a scuffle between the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers early in the marquee game between the two top teams.

The 49ers had a third-down play deep in Green Bay territory in the second quarter, and Kaepernick scrambled to his left in an effort to reach the first down. While he went out of bounds short of the marker,Clay Matthews didn't let up on the play.

After Kaepernick had stepped out of bounds, the Packers linebacker brought him down to the ground hard:

Via Fox Broadcast

This led to a fight between the two sides as several 49ers players came in to protect their quarterback:

Via Fox Broadcast

Via Fox Broadcast

San Francisco offensive lineman Joe Staley was the first to grab Matthews, and in turn was given a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. This offset the 15-yard penalty by Green Bay for a late hit.

The teams then replayed the down, which resulted in a 10-yard touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin.

One concerning part of the play was the fact this was something Matthews appears to have planned coming into the game. According to Vinnie Iyer of the Sporting News, the veteran player told ESPN's Mike and Mike that his team will try to put as many hits on Kaepernick as possible.  

This led to some concern from San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh, who was afraid that the Packers were going to target his quarterback.According to ESPN, he said:

You're hearing a lot of tough talk right now. You're hearing some intimidating type of talk, the same thing we were hearing a couple years ago. It sounds a lot like targeting a specific player. You definitely start to wonder.

A man will usually tell you his bad intentions if you just listen. You know what's being said publicly, not what's being said privately. You hope that their intent isn't going to be anything that's not within the rules.

The late hit shows that he was correct to an extent. Hopefully, this does not lead to any serious injuries as the game continues.

At the very least, though, this incident is the latest development in a budding NFC rivalry. San Francisco got the better of Green Bay last year on more than one occasion. Clearly, Green Bay is anxious to turn the tables. 

BleacherReport