Watch: Rams' Hit On Vikings' Teddy Bridgewater Not Cheap Shot, Just Mistake by Lamarcus Joyner

This past Sunday, the St. Louis Rams and Minnesota Vikings played a game that would go into overtime, and was a fierce defensive battle, ending 21-18. During the fourth quarter, second-year QB Teddy Bridgewater took off on a scramble for a first down, went to slide and then got knocked unconscious by DB Lamarcus Joyner. While many have called it a cheap shot, I believe it was more of just a bad, inexperienced mistake.

You have to remember, Joyner is a young guy. Drafted last season, he's only started three games in his career, and appeared in a total of 18. If you haven't seen the hit yet, take a look.

As you can see, it's a crucial time in the game. Both of these teams have been battling back and forth, and the Rams are trying to stay in it down three with the Vikings driving.

Bridgewater takes off to the left and is trying to get every yard he can; as you can tell, he waits until the last possible second to slide before he gets close to people. Joyner, meanwhile, is racing as fast as he can to force him down.

When two guys are running full speed at each other, it's not easy to apply the breaks. The NFL has gotten to a point where defenders are asked to do nearly impossible maneuvers in an attempt to protect offensive players -- some have even criticized the league for making it too difficult to play defense anymore.

Don't get me wrong, though, I'm all for protecting quarterbacks, both in the pocket and as a runner when they decide to slide. But just because something unfortunate like this happens, it doesn't mean that it was a cheap shot or dirty hit.

Even Vikings star RB Adrian Peterson has said that the hit wasn't dirty.

"Initial reaction, I actually just took off sprinting over there towards the Rams players because you know I seen it and it looked bad," Peterson said on Monday's "PFT Live" on NBC Sports Radio. "It looked dirty, but as I was over there kind of in the midst of those guys I wanted to watch the replay before I reacted and I do anything crazy ... I feel like it was a bang-bang play. Teddy slid; unfortunately, his head came up. If his head's flat, I think the guy's shoulder misses, but that's not normally how a quarterback's head is when he's sliding."

Peterson's analysis of the play is spot on. You can see Joyner lunge at the same time that Bridgewater began his slide. And in mid-air, you can see Joyner twist his body in a way that almost was able to avoid contact. However, Bridgewater's head came up, hit Joyner's forearm, and moved backward too quickly into the ground, causing the concussion and unconsciousness. It truly was a bang-bang play, and while Joyner didn't make the correct choice -- obviously -- it was just a mistake by a young player who was trying to make a play for his team.

A flag was properly thrown for the late hit, but nothing more needs to come of this, and Jeff Fisher doesn't need to defend his team of playing dirty. They play the right way, and it was just an unfortunate accident.