PHILADELPHIA -- The on-field officials overseeing Sunday's game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta ruled the contact between Falcons safety Keanu Neal's helmet and receiver Jordan Matthews to be incidental, according to a league source.

Facing a third-and-12 at the Atlanta 36, rookie quarterback Carson Wentz fired a pass over the middle to Matthews. Neal appeared to launch helmet-first and hit Matthews in the face mask as the ball tumbled to the turf, but the referees did not throw a flag. Matthews, sporting a bloody lip, told reporters after the game that the hit bent his face mask and visor, and he had to have both replaced.

The referees deemed that the majority of the contact was to the chest area with the side of the helmet, and therefore the contact between the defender’s helmet and Matthews to be incidental in the course of a conventional tackle. Unnecessary roughness rules do not prohibit "incidental contact by the mask or helmet in the course of a conventional tackle or block on an opponent."

The play is not subject to an instant replay review.

"Sometimes they stick so much to the, 'OK, but we called it on the field, we have to just stick with it.' But if you go look at this, they have a big TV out there, and you can see a dude just hit me in my chin, there's nothing wrong with going ahead and giving us the call, and you're right," said Matthews. "Just get the right call. And that's just something that can bother somebody, because everybody sees that we messed up on this, go ahead and get the right call out there. But it's just one of [those] things, I think it's the tradition of football and just going with the first call and trusting the refs ... but on a call like that you would like to see them get it right, because those are the dangerous things in football and you would just like to see them make that call the first time."

The officials’ ruling will be reviewed by senior vice president of officiating Dean Blandino and his staff, as is standard for every play of every game. Since the play involved a potential violation of safety-related rules, if it is determined that it should have been a foul, it might result in a fine for Neal.

"We talk about player safety and player safety being the No. 1 importance," coach Doug Pederson said. "I'm not going to get into a bunch of it here, but defenseless receiver trying to make a play. And it happens so fast. Listen, the officials are working extremely hard every week, they pride themselves in doing the right thing, and they don't want to be the reason for wins and losses. The best games are when you don't even know they're there. So give them credit, it happens extremely fast a lot of times."