Posts Tagged ‘suspension’

Suh a turkey after stuffing foot at OL; McAuley DQs 2 on Thanksgiving

• Discipline, Week 12
Sunday, November 27, 2011 – 1:47 pm | leave a comment

by Ben Austro

By now, you have heard that Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was ejected Thursday for stepping on Packers offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith (video). Of course, Suh says he shouldn’t have been tossed, because his foot was tangled with Dietrich-Smith (although the video shows otherwise). As Fox Sports analyst Troy Aikman aptly put it, “That’s an excellent block on [Dietrich-Smith's] part, and Ndamukong Suh doesn’t like it.” It was referee Terry McAuley’s second ejection in the game, with Packers cornerback Pat Lee being tossed before halftime for landing a punch (video).

The Suh ejection was for the kicking Dietrich-Smith. The league will review the entire video which shows Suh slamming Dietrich-Smith’s head to the turf a few times.

The NFL is mulling over a 1- or 2-game suspension for Suh, according to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer. However, it would be an odd statement of priority if Suh is suspended for two games.

There were two multiple-game suspensions for an on-field incident in NFL history. Both incidents were far more serious than Suh’s conduct, so the precedent would be Suh has a one-game suspension on the way:

  • 1986. Packers defensive lineman Charles Martin hit Bears quarterback Jim McMahon well after a pass, separating McMahon’s shoulder. Referee Jerry Markbreit ejected Martin, which was rare at the time for a non-fighting incident. Martin was suspended two games by commissioner Pete Rozelle.
  • 2006. Titans defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth stomped on Cowboys offensive lineman Andre Gurode’s face. Referee Jerome Boger assessed a rare double personal foul and ejected Haynesworth. Gurode needed 30 stitches to close the wound caused by Haynesworth’s cleats.

The last suspension for an on-field incident was Dante Wesley’s flagrant hit in 2009 which resulted in a one-game suspension (Zebra Blog coverage).

Helmet-to-helmet hit may result in butt-to-bench, increased fines

• News
Sunday, October 24, 2010 – 9:46 am | Comments Off

by Ben Austro

After some nasty helmet-to-helmet collisions on the football field, it was comments made in the broadcast studio that attracted the attention of the NFL. On Sunday Night Football, former Chargers and Patriots safety Rodney Harrison—who was voted twice by his peers as the dirtiest player in the game—said that fines had no impact on his on-field behavior:

Fining me five- or ten-grand really didn’t affect me. But I got to a point where when they suspended me, I knew the effect on my teammates. [It was] the disappointment, me not being out there, not the $100,000 that got taken away from me. … That’s what they’re going to have to do to if they’re going to change the nature of these hits: you have to suspend guys.


Much different than the Harrison who declared in 2006 after his second dirtiest player crown: “All I can say is as many guys as say I’m a dirty player, just as many come up and tell me they admire how I play, the hard work, the commitment, the toughness. That’s the pride you’re looking for. I take pride in that. But dirty? I don’t think you guys can look in my eyes and say I’m a dirty player.”

The league took a hard-line stance, handing out major fines (compared with other helmet-to-helmet hits as recent as last week) for the hits that started this conversation:

  • Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson hit Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson in the head so hard, Jackson does not remember the hit. Robinson was fined $50,000.
  • Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather was also docked $50,000 for a hit that had Ravens tight end Todd Heap out for the remainder of the game.
  • Steelers linebacker James Harrison knocked two Browns players out of the game and was fined $75,000.

Recently, fines of $5,000 to $10,000 were the standard. In one case of these three cases, a player essentially played for free, as the fine exceeded his game check.

After these fines were assessed, the NFL released a DVD (video) to all teams and this statement on Wednesday:

TO NFL PLAYERS AND COACHES:

One of our highest priorities is player safety.  We all know that football is a tough game that includes hard contact.  But that carries with it an obligation to do all that we can to protect all players from unnecessary injury caused by dangerous techniques from those who play outside the rules.

The video shown today shows what kind of hits are against the rules, but also makes clear that you can play a hard, physical game within the rules.

Violations of the playing rules that unreasonably put the safety of another player in jeopardy have no place in the game, and that is especially true in the case of hits to the head and neck.  Accordingly, from this point forward, you should be clear on the following points:

1.         Players are expected to play within the rules.  Those who do not will face increased discipline, including suspensions, starting with the first offense.

2.         Coaches are expected to teach playing within the rules.  Failure to do so will subject both the coach and the employing club to discipline.

3.         Game officials have been directed to emphasize protecting players from illegal and dangerous hits, and particularly from hits to the head and neck.  In appropriate cases, they have the authority to eject players from a game.

ROGER GOODELL, Commissioner

We will have a round-up of the reaction from players and coaches to the NFL’s increased enforcement for these hits.

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Originally published October 23, 2010 at 10:01 PM | Page modified October 23, 2010 at 10:11 PM

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Steve Kelley

Stiff penalties on headhunters is important in protecting NFL players

Hard hits, violent hits, are part of football. And injuries, even serious injuries, are inevitable. The league can’t legislate the violence out of the game, nor should it. But it has to protect the unprotected and it has to punish the players who launch themselves head-first into receivers and running backs and quarterbacks.

Steve Kelley

Seattle Times staff columnist

For many years, when sportswriters stayed at the same hotel with the team, I watched the Seahawks players climb onto their buses before riding to the stadium for their Sunday road games.

That afternoon they would play their most dangerous game and I couldn’t help wondering which players would finish the day healthy or hurt, or even hospitalized.

Every game, they put their lives and livelihoods on the line the way athletes in most other sports never do, and I’ve always admired their grace under that enormous pressure.

Football is a violent game, and the players of the NFL accept that fact every day when they run onto the practice field, every Sunday when they board their buses and every game day when they collide at high speeds and with intimidating intent.

In the past few years, groundbreaking research has led to an increased awareness of the dangers and the long-term physical costs for the players who play this game.

We now know that the effects of the thunderous hits we see on Sunday might not fully be realized by the players absorbing those hits until later decades. The hits they take in their 20s can lead to serious health issues in their 40s and 50s.

NFL players are dying young. They are suffering from ALS, Parkinson’s disease and dementia. Some former players’ suicides have been linked to head trauma they suffered while playing in the NFL.

To its credit, the league has begun paying serious attention to the damage that can be done from head trauma. Finally, the seriousness of concussions is being addressed. We no longer hear jokes on the air about a player “getting his bell rung.”

But now the league is struggling to find the answer to a complicated riddle.

The NFL, which has celebrated the violence in its game because that violence is so much a part of football’s attraction, is trying to find a way to legislate against the most violent helmet-to-helmet hits. A 15-yard penalty, or a five-figure fine, aren’t enough.

Last weekend, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison knocked two Cleveland Browns out of the game.

Atlanta’s Dunta Robinson hit Philadelphia receiver DeSean Jackson and both were on the ground after the play. Jackson has no memory of the hit.

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The most dangerous strike came from New England safety Brandon Meriweather, who knocked out Baltimore tight end Todd Heap, after the front of Meriweather’s helmet crashed into the left side of Heap’s.

3-time offender Finnegan faces possible suspension on next infraction

• Discipline, Week 4
Sunday, October 10, 2010 – 2:29 pm | Comments Off

by Ben Austro

We noted last year about the frequency of incidents that then-Cowboys lineman Flozel Adams was fined for. While the league opted not to suspend Adams, he was on notice for most of the season.

Now Titans defensive back Cortland Finnegan finds himself in similar territory, having racked up his third fine in as many weeks. The league, in its standard warning, said that “increased disciplinary action” could follow future infractions.

NFL quickly suspends Panthers’ Wesley 1 game for flagrant hit on punt returner

• Discipline, Follow-up, Week 6
Monday, October 19, 2009 – 10:30 pm | Comments Off

by Ben Austro

Justice came swift for the Panthers Dante Wesley for his hit on Clifton Smith of the Buccaneers that we described as being like a runaway locomotive. (He was ejected for the hit with 10 seconds remaining in the second quarter.) We expected an announcement either today or tomorrow, but the NFL wasted no time in handing down judgment. He will be suspended without pay for next week’s game. The announcement from the NFL:

Defensive back Dante Wesley of the Carolina Panthers has been suspended without pay for one game by NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Ray Anderson for a flagrant violation of player safety rules.  Specifically, on a punt coverage play on Sunday, Wesley left his feet, launched himself and made shoulder and forearm contact with the neck and head area of Tampa Bay punt returner Clifton Smith, who had not caught or touched the ball and was in a defenseless posture.

The suspension will sideline Wesley for the Panthers’ game against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, October 25.

In a letter to Wesley, Anderson wrote: “The playing rules (Rule 10, Section 1, Article 1) specifically provide that a member of the kicking team is prohibited from interfering with a receiver attempting to catch an airborne kick.  The prohibited contact in this case went well beyond simply interfering with the receiver.  Instead, by striking your defenseless opponent in the head and neck area, you committed an unnecessary and unnecessarily dangerous act that is specifically prohibited by the rules.”

Anderson added: “Your actions are of particular concern in light of the emphasis that our office has placed on developing and enforcing rules designed to protect players from injury, including head and neck injuries.  The safety of our players is paramount to all of us in the NFL.”