Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Appeals stemming from brawl expected to be ruled on by Wednesday
Browns defensive linemen Myles Garrett and Larry Ogunjobi and Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey should know the results of their appeals by Wednesday.
Garrett, Ogunjobi and Pouncey were suspended by the NFL for fighting late in the Browns’ 21-7 win over the Steelers on “Thursday Night Football.”
ESPN reported Sunday former NFL players Derrick Brooks and James Thrash, the officers jointly appointed and compensated by the league and NFL Players Association to decide appeals of on-field player discipline, are expected to rule on the appeals no later than Wednesday morning. The appeals will be heard Monday and Tuesday, according to the report.
Brooks and Thrash typically issue a preliminary ruling within 24 hours of an appeal hearing.
On Friday, the Beacon Journal first reported Garrett was expected to appeal his suspension. NFL Network reported Ogunjobi and Pouncey were expected to do the same.
When the NFL announced the suspensions of Garrett, Ogunjobi and Pouncey on Friday, the league indicated several other players would be fined when it stated, “additional discipline for other players will be forthcoming through the standard accountability process, including those players that left the bench to enter the fight area.”
ESPN reported Sunday the NFL will fine about 10 players for leaving the bench area and running on the field. A league source told the Beacon Journal it’ll be “easy to reach double digits” for the number of players fined.
The NFL suspended Garrett without pay for at least the rest of the 2019 season — the remaining six regular-season games and playoffs. The league suspended Ogunjobi without pay for one game and Pouncey without pay for three games. All three players were ejected from the game and will be fined, too.
Troy Vincent, a former NFL player and the league’s executive vice president of football operations, explained the decisions on the suspensions to CBS Sports.
He said it was an “easy decision” to suspend Garrett for the rest of the season after he ripped the helmet off Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and swung the helmet into
Rudolph’s head.
“That’s not us,” Vincent said. “That’s not who we are. There is no place for that in our game. We all know that. That, frankly, is an easy decision to suspend the player for the duration of the season. … Imagine if he hit him with the crown of the helmet? We cannot have that on a football field.”
The brawl broke out with eight seconds left in the game.
On third-and-29 at the Steelers 17-yard line, Garrett wrapped up Rudolph and took him down to the ground after the quarterback threw a short pass to running back Trey Edmunds.
On the ground, Rudolph grabbed Garrett’s helmet and pulled on it enough to nearly remove it.
As Garrett rose to his feet, Rudolph pushed his right foot into Garrett’s groin. Garrett grabbed Rudolph’s face mask and ripped his helmet off.
Rudolph got up and went after Garrett as Steelers right guard David DeCastro stood between the two. Then Garrett swung Rudolph’s helmet and whacked him on the top of his head.
Rudolph will be fined but wasn’t suspended.
“The grabbing of the facemask, that is a fine,” Vincent said. “We’ll continue to sort through that next week, but, yes, there could be multiple fines coming to (Rudolph) if we find another action that constitutes unsportsmanlike conduct.”
Pouncey reacted to Garrett’s helmet swing by repeatedly punching Garrett. Pouncey and DeCastro knocked Garrett down in the end zone. With DeCastro lying atop Garrett in the end zone, Pouncey punched and kicked Garrett in the helmet before Browns defensive end Chris Smith arrived to break up the fight and other players followed suit.
“(Pouncey) made multiple attempts to strike at and potentially injure another player,” Vincent said.
Meanwhile, Ogunjobi ran into a helmet-less Rudolph from behind and shoved him to the ground.
“(Ogunjobi), in our view, was going out of his way to escalate this situation,” Vincent said. “This is an action that could start another melee. It is a potential re-escalation.”
As for other players who will be fined, Vincent said, “We already got a quick look at who was walking off the sideline and who was sprinting. We’ll take a very close look at all of that next week.”