‘This is a bad story’ – Diego Pavia explains how he got a black eye and possibly broke his nose in win over the Tennessee Vols
Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia suffered a black eye in a win over the Tennessee Vols this past weekend.
Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia had a Heisman Trophy-worthy performance last weekend in a 45-24 win over the Tennessee Vols.
Pavia passed for 268 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 165 yards and a touchdown in the 21-point win.
The Heisman hopeful had a big showing against the Vols, but he didn’t escape the game unscathed. Pavia suffered a black eye in the game, though it had nothing to do with any of Tennessee’s players.
Diego Pavia explains how he got a black eye and possibly broke his nose in the win against Tennessee
Pavia joined Good Sports with Kevin Hart and Keenan Thompson this week, and he had a very noticeable black eye.
Pavia explained that the black eye resulted from being hit in the face with a penalty flag after throwing an interception against the Vols.
“Oh, dude, this is a bad story,” said Pavia. “I threw an interception on Saturday, right? I go to make the block, and I get blocked in the back. The flag that the ref threw came through my helmet and nailed me right on the nose. I think it’s broken right now.”
I believe the play Pavia is referring to is the interception he threw in the red zone on Vanderbilt’s first drive. The flag was actually thrown for an illegal forward pass by Vols defensive back Edrees Farooq, who intercepted the ball and then fumbled it forward to cornerback Ty Redmond (the flag was overturned after review).
You can’t see the flag on the broadcast, but you can see Pavia messing with his eye as he walks off the field after the play.
You can see the flag get thrown in the direction of a diving Pavia in this field-level video from WATE’s Sam Granville.
Pavia is lucky that it wasn’t worse.
The late Orlando Brown, a former NFL offensive lineman who’s the father of Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman Orlando Brown Jr, was hit in the eye by a penalty flag in 1999. The incident temporarily blinded Brown. He ended up suing the NFL for $200 million in 2000. Brown reportedly agreed to a settlement worth between $15 million and $25 million in 2002.
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