Rottier forgives and forgets Mitchell incident
Lions D-lineman wrenched Eskimo’s arm in Friday’s game
Ask Simeon Rottier about Khalif Mitchell and the Edmonton Eskimos offensive lineman says he’s moved on. Forgiven and forgotten. If only his elbow was as cooperative as his heart.
Rottier didn’t participate in Sunday’s Eskimos practice, but he was at least wearing his No. 65, biking on the sidelines with his left arm bandaged after having it violently yanked backward by B.C. Lions defensive lineman Khalif Mitchell during the Eskimos’ 27-14 win on Friday.
The X-rays on his arm came back negative on Sunday. The Eskimos expect him to miss Thursday’s game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Almost 48 hours after the incident, Rottier and his teammates have seen the replays of the incident. Rottier spoke about the play, with fellow offensive lineman Kyle Koch not so subtly urging him to not comment on it.
“I think the film showed it’s pretty clear that it was intentional,” Rottier said, laughing at Koch’s efforts.
“From my point of view, I just feel like I need to forgive and move on and just not let this kind of incident take away from where (this season is) going and all of the good things that have happened. The league will take care of it and we’ll move on from there.”
But, Rottier was asked, isn’t it difficult to forgive and forget something like that?
“Well yeah,” he said. “I mean, I was pretty upset at the time, but I always felt, I was brought up as a Christian. The Lord forgave me of all of my sins and everything I did, so if you look at it like that, everyone needs to be forgiven.
“From my perspective, forgiven means letting go of the bitterness and … that’s going to try and bring me down. I don’t need that, so I’m just going to let it go.”
Letting the incident go seemed to be the theme for the Eskimos on Sunday. Receiver Shamawd Chambers had a front-row seat for the play, which took place in the final minute of the first half. The rookie said he didn’t see it happen, but heard a lot after the fact.
“I saw it on tape and it looks absolutely disgusting,” he said.
“(When it actually happened) I saw (Rottier) hit the ground. I heard (Mitchell) say, ‘That’s what you get. That’s what you get for trying to do that.’
“After that, I was confused because I thought maybe (Rottier) did something to him. It was a quick moment, but I didn’t get to see anything.”
Chambers could be seen talking with Mitchell later in the game, during a stoppage in play during the fourth quarter.
“He was just looking over to the sidelines, saying some stuff to our sidelines,” Chambers recalled. “I said, ‘The game’s over. I don’t know why you’re still saying stuff and dancing around.’
“I don’t know. To me, that’s kind of ridiculous, but that’s what they do. It’s different over there. They have a great team and I don’t think that’s right for what he did.”
On the Lions’ side, head coach Mike Benevides told the Vancouver Sun on Saturday that the team was looking into what had happened.
“I didn’t know exactly what occurred (at the time). We’ll look at it a little closer on the tape,” he said.
“There’s a certain way we want to conduct ourselves. There’s a certain way we want to play. Our players are clearly aware of that. We want our players to play to the edge and be aggressive. But we do not condone anything like that (Mitchell). I will not accept any selfish acts. We will not accept anarchy.”
Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed said the matter was in the league’s hands now.
“It’s a matter that the league is going to handle and I trust that they’re very smart about it,” he said. “We have absolute confidence that the right thing’s going to come out of this.
“Again, I have to praise the B.C. Lions organization for how they’ve handled it as well. I’ve talked to coach Benevides and he’s been very forthcoming in terms of his sincerity about hoping the play didn’t happen, but you can’t control things like that. They happen and we just have to move forward.”
Lions defensive back Dante Marsh stood up for Mitchell on Saturday, telling the Sun that his teammate wasn’t a dirty player.
“I’m not defending him just because he’s my teammate,” he said. “But he’s not a dirty, malicious guy. But I’ve got to see it on film. I don’t believe what I heard. Edmonton’s as dirty as (expletive).”
Reed didn’t take offence to Marsh’s comment.
“In the heat of the moment, guys are going to make comments and my thing is that football is a very violent game and it’s a game where you really expect controlled violence,” he said. “Our football team is taught and asked to play football very aggressively, but asked to not bend and break the rules.”