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According to Matt Maiocco, the NFL has reportedly confirmed what most of us already knew: Dashon Goldson's big hit on wide receiver Early Doucet was a legal hit. Jim Harbaugh and Dashon Goldson both knew it was a clean hit, and it's nice to see the NFL acknowledge as much.
In case you missed it, we described a GIF of the hit as legal shortly after the play happened. In case you missed it before, here is a GIF of the hit. As you can see, Goldson leads with his shoulder, not his helmet. Additionally, he drills Doucet in the right upper arm. It was a violent hit, but it was a legal hit.
Given what happened last year when the 49ers hosted Arizona, this was not a surprising result. Last November, Doucet instigated Goldso and contributed to Goldson getting ejected from the game. Payback had to be somewhere in the back of his mind when he made this monster hit. I suggest back of the mind instead of the forefront because Goldson is no stranger to the big hit.