Buccaneers duo suspended over fake vaccination cards
Brown and Edwards decide not to appeal three-game bans resulting from NFL probe
Fib about your jab? Forget about your job. For three weeks, at least.
That's the message the NFL sent around the league on Thursday afternoon, when it suspended Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown and backup safety Mike Edwards each for three games without pay, for “misrepresenting their vaccination status,” the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport tweeted.
Each player has accepted his punishment and won't appeal, Rapoport reported.
The club not only was not punished, it assisted the league in its investigation.
The league also suspended free agent wide receiver John Franklin III, who was with the Bucs in August before being waived.
Two weeks ago, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times broke the news that Brown's girlfriend, model Cydney Moreau, told the player's former live-in chef that Brown had been willing to pay $500 before the season for a fake proof-of-vaccination card and went through with it. Brown's lawyer hotly denied that his client's vaccination card was forged.
Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians furthermore sneered at the report and insisted that Brown was vaccinated, believing his proof-of-vax card was legitimate. The NFL launched an investigation anyway.
Clearly, the Bucs over the past two weeks have come to believe the report, in fact, was true.
“We appreciate the league's timely handling of this matter,” the Buccaneers said in a statement, “and recognize the importance of the health and safety protocols that have been established. We will continue to implement all league COVID-19 protocols.”
Arians had proudly announced in the summer that all his players were vaccinated.
Brown has missed most of the season with an ankle injury, and earlier this week, Arians said he's not expected back for at least a couple of weeks. Now, the earliest he can return is Dec. 26 against Carolina.
Brown and Edwards will miss Tampa Bay's game this Sunday at Atlanta, next Sunday at home against the Buffalo Bills, and a Dec. 19 game versus New Orleans.
MURRAY BACK FOR CARDS
One of the leading NFL MVP candidates for 2021, quarterback Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals, returns to action this week, NFL Network reported Thursday. He had been sidelined for more than a month with a bad sprain to his left ankle.
How good is Murray, who is still being mentioned among 2021 NFL MVP candidates? Well, consider what he had done over the final minutes of an Oct. 28 loss to the Green Bay Packers, in plays leading up to the moment he got hurt.
The Cards had entered the game with a 7-0 record. Things looked bleak when the Packers took a 24-14 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Murray, though, piloted a 75-yard TD drive that narrowed the Cardinals' deficit to three points. Then, after the Arizona defence held on downs at its oneyard line with 3:26 left, Murray became practically a one-man wrecking crew, as his team fought to remain undefeated. The 24-year-old led what probably would be viewed as the drive of the year in the NFL, if only for the way it ended.
On it, Murray completed 5-of-6 throws for 89 yards and ran once for nine more yards (to offset the eight yards he lost in recovering his own fumble) — which set up his team at Green Bay's nineyard line, with 44 seconds left.
So to that point Murray was responsible for all 90 yards of his team's advancement on that win-or-lose drive, either with his legs or arm. On the next snap, Murray tried to run around the right end, but got tackled after only one yard. He got up slowly, however, then limped back to the huddle. A handoff gained three more yards, to the five.
With 15 seconds left Murray was able to throw into the end zone to open wide receiver A.J. Green. It should have been the game-winning play, but Green never turned around to look for the ball, and the Packers' Rasul Douglas intercepted the pass.
Final score: Green Bay 24, Arizona 21.
The point in rehashing the end of this game is to underscore how valuable Murray is to the Cardinals' attack. Don't be fooled by the fact his backup, Colt McCoy, played well in the three games Murray missed; Arizona won two of them to enter this week at 9-2, still the best record in the NFL.
Rather, those last-drive snapshots on Oct. 28 showed maybe better than any in-game stretch this season why Murray still should be considered a strong league MVP candidate, as he returns for the last third of the season, which concludes Jan. 9.
EXTRA POINTS
New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones practised on a limited basis again Thursday. He has a neck injury. If cleared by team doctors, he'll start and play against the Miami Dolphins, head coach Joe Judge said. Mike Glennon will start otherwise ... Denver reactivated left offensive tackle Garett Bolles from reserve/COVID-19. He hasn't played in a month. Also, Denver RB Melvin Gordon is 50/50 to play Sunday night at Kansas City due to a hip injury ... Colts RB Jonathan Taylor is still the leading vote-getter for the Pro Bowl.