Earlier this week, Myles Garrett ripped the helmet off of Steelers Quarterback Mason Rudolph and beat him with it.
Was it the worst thing I had ever seen on a football field? Uh, no. Was it in the conversation? Yes. Myles Garrett should have been suspended for 2 games for his actions at the end of the 21-7 Browns victory.
What was the worst thing I had ever seen? Probably the 2 times I thought players were killed on the field.
Example #1
(2010) James Harrison nearly decapitated Colt McCoy
You see that flag in the screen shot? James Harrison was a dirty head hunter. I believe he knocked 3 players out of that game with illegal head shots.
Example #2
(1980) Thom Darden nearly killed Harvard-grad Patrick McInally.
What happened at the end of Thursday Night's game was the extension of a play on the field. Myles Garrett and Mason Rudolph tussled and Myles Garrett went too far.
It is that simple.
Again, Myles deserves a 2 game suspension. What Myles Garrett didn't do was tip-toe behind the Steelers bench and randomly attack Mason Rudolph when he wasn't looking. That would elicit a lifetime ban.
For the last 2 days I have read article after article that Garrett deserves between a one year ban to a lifetime ban for his actions on the field. Let me speak clearly, let me speak slowly:
The... NFL... is... a... sport... of... violence.
You cannot have violence, violence, violence and then single out Myles Garrett because you don't like his brand of violence when it goes viral and ends up on CNN. You may be screaming at the computer screen "DAMMIT FRED HUNT, HE BEAT ANOTHER MAN IN THE HEAD WITH HIS OWN HELMET!!!!"
Yes, I know. The NFL is a sport of violence. There is a penalty, in the NFL Rule book, for just such an occurrence:
For illegal use of a helmet as a weapon: Loss of 15 yards and automatic disqualification. If the foul is by the defense, it is also an automatic first down. - USA Today
That’s basically what happened, save for the first down. Garrett was indeed disqualified. When fights break out in sports, men invariably take things too far. With that said, I am calling out Football Writers across this nation, right now, how can you be a student of the game and single out Myles Garrett, knowing what the rule book says, for anything more than a 2 game ban? If you write for the Huffington Post and don't know the difference between a triple and field goal, you have an excuse. What happened on Thursday looked really, really bad. It does.
On October 17, 2010, Rodney Harrison was docked $75,000 for a hit on Browns WR Mohamad Massaquoi in the Steelers’ Week 6 win over Cleveland. It is remembered as the date the league began enforcing rules aimed to protect players. Harrison was the focal point of three fines issued for illegal hits totaling $175,000. - Steelers Wire
They had to change the rules because Pittsburgh Steelers players kept hitting Cleveland Browns players in the head.
You think I'm hiding behind my keyboard, being vague? Nope, my names on the top of the article. For YEARS Steelers players have targeted Browns players. then Myles Garrett fights back and the nation is in an uproar. Screw that, I'm calling sports writers out by name.
Uneducated Football Chickenshits
Kevin Seifert - ESPN
Steve Serby - New York Post
Michael McCann - Sports Illustrated
Cole Thompson - Pro Football Network
Vincent Frank - Forbes (Sportsnaut)
Joe Starkey - Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Colin Cowherd - Fox Sports
You know what? The wise Colin Cowherd and his chickenshit ilk have swayed me. Coward went with the "if you grab a beer bottle in a bar fight, you're going to jail" card. Okay Colin, every time something happens after the whistle, or spills onto the sidelines, we'll call the police. Every NFL stadium will now have policemen standing on the sidelines in case league sanctioned violence escalates into non-league sanctioned violence. It can be the Colin Cowherd Rule.
The Colin Cowherd Rule will make sure that as soon as the official's whistle blows, a red light comes on in the stadium. Any violence that occurs after the light is lit is now no different than simple street brawls. Any fisticuffs at all, officers rush onto the field to apprehend players immediately. That will teach 'em, players like Myles Garrett led out of the stadium in handcuffs.
And drug users? The Colin Cowherd Rule will immediately turn any positive drug tests into local police agencies. Everyone will play by the rules or else. Non-sanctioned league violence and drug use damages The Shield.
You don't think it's nice calling grown men who are professionals, chickenshits? I'll tell you what, go ahead and go to my Father-in-Law's house and ask him "hey, what do you think of your Son-in-Law only calling for a 2 game suspension for Myles Garrett?"
You know what he'd say? "That kid (50) is a goddamn pansy. Myles Garrett was ejected for the game and that should be his penalty. If anything, Garrett shouldn't be suspended at all and Mason Rudolph should be suspended 2 games for being an instigator."
Editor's Note to James Harrison: F#ck You.
Yesterday I was speaking to a black teenager and he said something that kind of made me pause. "You ever notice that unprecedented suspensions are always against black players?"
With the exception of the NHL's Todd Bertuzzi, I couldn't think of any white players with unprecedented suspensions in the modern era. I thought it could be feasible that Xxxx Xxxxxxx was right.
So later I scrolled through the NFL suspensions list and came across lots and lots of black players. Notable exceptions? Scumbag Josh Brown and Deflater Tom Brady. If you go through the list, you'll notice that Roger Goodell doesn't really have a compass as to how long suspensions are. He's kind of like Pontius Pilate, he judges players by public opinion.
Xxxx Xxxxxxxx continued on "you talk about the old days, when a bunch of white players were beating the crap out of each other off the ball and doing piles of drugs. How come fans don't like it when black players do the same things?"
"And how do we know Mason Rudolph didn't use the n-word and that's what set-"
WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, ARTICLE OVER!!!!
Addendum November 21, 2019: I wasn't comfortable with my sourcing 5 days ago. Xxxx Xxxxxxxx also claimed that "his friend's cousin played on the Browns" and that one of the Browns players heard Mason Rudolph use the N-word on the play in question. I countered that there are microphones everywhere on an NFL field and the NFL could potentially be reviewing audio of the incident.
I know I'm only a lowly Blogger, but I wasn't ready to use a student's friend's cousin as sourcing. But guess who was?
