Falcons fined $100K over handling of Bijan Robinson’s sickness vs. Bucs
FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons were fined $75,000 and coach Arthur Smith $25,000 for violating the NFL injury-reporting policy before the club’s Week 7 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a league source told The Atlanta JournalConstitution on Friday.
“It wasn’t like there were some Senate investigation,” Smith said. “It was very easy to deal with them. They understood both sides. Lesson learned. We all have to work through it. That’s where we are headed.”
The case involving running back Bijan Robinson has been under review since a 16-13 win Oct. 22.
“That’s not my issue,” Robinson said after practice in the locker room. “That’s something that they did, and I don’t really want to get involved into any of that.”
The issue regarding the Falcons was Robinson’s sickness/headache before that Tampa Bay game. Smith downplayed the inquiry pertaining to the league’s injury-reporting rules and said the day after the game that there was “nothing to it.”
Teams have been fined in recent years for violating the league’s injuryreport rules.
Robinson played only 11 offensive snaps and had one carry for 3 yards. Smith told Fox at halftime that Robinson was not “feeling well.”
Against Tampa Bay, Robinson’s playing time was reduced from the 61% to 81% range over the first six games to 17%. That likely caught the league’s attention.
The interpretation of “a player certain to play” and the fact that Robinson did play were the issues.
“There was nothing never intentionally done to game the system,” Smith insisted. “A lot of it was … the player did play in the game. There was (a different) usage rate, and there were multiple factors why. So, everything was transparent.”
Robinson spent most of the night before the game throwing up.
“It was just me coming here and not feeling right over the air waves, off the plane,” Robinson said after the game. “Then last night it was just more of me trying to sleep and get my head right. I woke up this morning feeling super, super down. Just like, I don’t know what happened … it was hard to sleep. I was just trying to find my groove. I was over the toilet last night. Just trying to get out of it. I woke up this morning, and I wasn’t feeling good at all.”
Robinson was asked he’d taken a COVID-19 test or a concussion test. He said that he had not.
With Robinson under the weather, the Falcons turned his role over to Cordarrelle Patterson and Tyler Allgeier.
Allgeier rushed 21 times for 59 yards and caught three passes for 53 yards. Patterson has his best game of the season, as he rushed 10 times for 56 yards.
“As we got through warm up and early on, he wasn’t feeling like himself,” Smith said after the game. “He played, but we weren’t going to overdo it. We were just being cautious. When you have other guys that can go, we are a team.”
Robinson said he missed two games in college and one or two games in high school.
Robinson played only six snaps in the first half against the Bucs.
Robinson wasn’t on the injury report the week before the game and was present during all open media sessions.
With Robinson out, Allgeier had a nice 46-yard catch up the sideline. It was the longest catch of his NFL career.
Patterson had only one carry coming into this game.
In 2019, the league fined the Steelers $75,000 and coach Mike Tomlin $25,000 for violating the injury-report policy in a matter involving quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
The Steelers did not accurately list Roethlisberger on the practice report for a Week 2 game against Seattle. Roethlisberger left the game with an injured right elbow. He had surgery and missed the rest of the season.
Roethlisberger missed a day of practice, and it was deceptively listed as “not injury related.”
In 2019, the league fined the Detroit Lions $75,000 for violating the same policy after the team failed to update quarterback Matthew Stafford’s status before a Nov. 10 contest against the Chicago Bears.
Then Lions coach Matt Patricia was also fined $25,000 and general manager Bob Quinn lost $10,000.
In November 2018, the Dolphins were fined $30,000 and coach Adam Gase $15,000 for violating the injury-reporting policy. The Dolphins listed quarterback Ryan Tannehill as a full practice participant when he split time with backup quarterback Brock Osweiler.