Packers don’t plan to change after key flag

Keep the head up. Be aware if the quarterback got rid of the ball. Wrap up.

Seems like a simple enough checklist for a defender to hit the quarterback.

A roughing-the-passer penalty on linebacker Clay Matthews against the Minnesota Vikings might have raised new questions with the Green Bay Packers.

The Packers talked about it this week ahead of their game Sunday against the Washington Redskins. The commotion over the call won’t change the way that coach Mike McCarthy teaches tackling.

“I know the way we’re going to approach the game. We know how we’re going to rush the passer. We know how we’re going to hit the quarterback,” McCarthy said, “and the way we’re teaching it is the way we’re going to do it.”

The call against Matthews negated an interception by Jaire Alexander late in regulation that could have preserved a win over the Vikings. Instead, Minnesota came back to tie, Green Bay missed a 52-yard field goal at the end of the regulation and the teams went scoreless in an overtime that ended in a 29-29 tie.

Matthews called it a “terrible call” after the game. Referee Tony

Corrente said the call was made not made under the new helmet rule, but rather because Matthews “hit the quarterback, lifted him and drove him to the ground.”

■ Texans: A white Texas school superintendent who posted online that “You can’t count on a black quarterback” in reference to Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson resigned.

In a letter Saturday to the Onalaska Independent School District board, Lynn Redden said his comment posted earlier in the week on the Houston Chronicle’s Facebook page was “wrong and inappropriate.”

He also apologized to Watson, who is black, and pointed out that Watson could have criticized him for his comment but instead “chose peace and positivity.”

Redden had criticized Watson for letting the clock run down before completing a pass in a 20-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans last Sunday.

Redden’s comment prompted the school board to convene a special meeting Saturday.

■ Steelers: Pittsburgh will be without All-Pro guard David DeCastro for a second straight week when they visit Tampa Bay on Monday.

Deshaun Watson