Myles Garrett suspension for Steelers-Browns fight: Why he deserves record punishment for helmet swing
On Thursday night, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett committed the closest thing we've seen to an on-field crime in the modern era of pro football. Only one response will suffice. The NFL must issue the longest suspension for a single on-field act in its history, ending Garrett's 2019 season with six games remaining on the Browns' schedule and making clear to the world that what happened at FirstEnergy Stadium is one of the worst moments on the field in its history.
Such discipline, as harsh as it might seem, won't be particularly controversial to anyone who saw Garrett rip off Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph's helmet and then use it to pummel his unprotected head. If Garrett hit someone with a helmet on the streets of Cleveland, he would face arrest. The outburst left grizzled football veterans gasping at its sheer violence, a throwback matched by only a handful -- if any -- of intentional acts in 100 years of league play.
The length of Garrett's absence shouldn't be too tough for the NFL to figure out. It suspended Oakland Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict indefinitely earlier this season for an accumulation of on-field acts, culminating with a helmet-to-helmet hit, but the longest suspension it has issued for a single on-field incident is five games. That happened in 2006 when then-Tennessee Titans defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth ripped the helmet off Dallas Cowboys center Andre Gurode and then kicked and stomped on his face. Gurode needed 30 stitches to close the wounds.
Rudolph was lucky to avoid a similar fate, or worse. The stunned expression on the face of Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, speaking moments later in an interview on Fox, depicted the weight of the scene. Mayfield couldn't summon an ounce of defense for his teammate.
"It's inexcusable," he said. "That's just endangering the other team. ... The reality is he is going to get suspended. We don't know how long, and that hurts our team."
Don't forget that Rudolph was knocked unconscious last month by a hit to his helmet and missed one game. The contact from that blow, initiated by Baltimore Ravens safety Earl Thomas III, was so severe that Rudolph's eyes were closed before he hit the ground. If you knew that context, you were surely cringing as you saw Garrett bash Rudolph's head, topped off by Browns defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi pushing Rudolph to the ground from behind. Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey then entered the fray, kicking and punching Garrett and escalating the scene to a point where it wouldn't have been surprising to see police officers on the field. (Rudolph did pull at Garrett's helmet while both were on the ground, but that bit of aggressiveness hardly merited the response.)
"I lost my cool, and I regret it," Garrett said afterward. Rudolph called it "cowardly" and "bush league" after the game. But I'm sorry, using normal words to describe a singular act of violence risks assimilating it into all the other dirty and unsportsmanlike plays we've seen in football.
Entire article:
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...t-why-deserves-record-punishment-helmet-swing
The Browns only have 6 more games, he could be done playing this season.
