Suspension angers Steelers
“Super flawed, super flawed,’’ complained Ramon Foster, the Steelers’ representative for the NFL Players Association. “There are so many errors in every situation, it’s ridiculous. There’s no common ground, there’s no justification in it. And if you say you’re going to suspend a guy for taunting, I thought taunting was a fine and not a suspension.”
Smith-Schuster, a rookie who has never been fined nor disciplined by the NFL, received a one-game suspension after he was flagged for unnecessary roughness for a peel-back block on Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict, then flagged again for taunting for standing over him as he lay on the ground.
Iloka was penalized for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Antonio Brown, as he caught the touchdown pass late in the game that tied the score.
“They screwed it up,’’ Foster said. “You say you’re concerned for player safety, but you had a guy who blatantly had a helmet to helmet and didn’t get suspended. You had a guy who just did a taunting and you try to justify it by suspending him. That’s not player safety.”
Some sampling from other Steelers Wednesday:
Cam Heyward: “I just don’t understand the consistency. What are we really saying?”
Maurkice Pouncey: “I think it’s stupid. It’s the stupidest thing in the world. ... And I guess, what, the other guy got overturned because AB got up and scored a touchdown? Like, come on, it’s crazy.”
Alejandro Villanueva: “I do feel the NFL has not shown any leadership whatsoever in dealing with this matter. I mean, they’re supposed to be media experts, consultants that anticipate the ratings drops and whatnot. They’ve completely mishandled not just the national anthem but obviously this suspension thing is out of control.”
Several Steelers claimed that Cincinnati’s Josh Shaw intentionally kicked Chris Boswell during his first try to kick the winning field goal. Shaw was penalized 5 yards for being offside, but nothing for any other offense. Boswell then kicked the winner from 38 yards.
“And then there’s a hit on Boswell for the game-winning kick and that’s not mentioned,’’ Heyward said. “[Shaw] hit him on the foot. He kicked him. He stuck his foot out.”
The Steelers say there is little consistency from the NFL when meting out punishment. They point to the one-game suspension New England’s Rob Gronkowski received for diving on top of Buffalo’s Tre’Davious White Sunday well after the play and mashing him with his forearm.
“And then you have another situation where you have a guy plow into another guy and you suspend him for one game!” Foster said. “Why one game? Why not multiple games? Because the Steelers play the Patriots the next week.”
Pouncey said SmithSchuster “is just playing hard football. For him to have the same suspension as Gronk is embarrassing, it’s ridiculous.”
“You’re telling me a guy can do an offseason, training-day up-down on a guy and a guy can do a football play and they are the same exact thing? No way,’’ said Foster, explaining that move as “buzzing your feet and hitting the ground. That’s basically what Gronk did.”
Jon Runyan, the NFL’s VP of football operations, issued the initial suspensions. He is a former lineman who had a reputation as a dirty player.
“Didn’t Runyan win the league’s most dirty player one or two times?” Foster said. “Is he just trying to get back in the good graces of God because of that? I don’t know. Is he just trying to fix his karma or what? I don’t know. It’s flawed, that’s the best way I can put it. It’s super flawed.”
Smith-Schuster’s appeal was denied by James Thrash, but Derrick Brooks overturned Iloka’s suspension on appeal. Foster also took issue with two different appeals judges ruling on it.
“If that’s the case then there should be a committee of people that discuss it as opposed to one guy,’’ Foster said. “It’s a flawed system. I refuse to say too much about it. It’s not fair for a lot of guys.”
Villanueva believes much of the NFL’s rulings are based on public reaction, especially by the media.
“The NFL is kind of waiting, seeing what the chatter is, what the atmosphere is from the public and then being reactive about it and doing something.
“But it’s not based on principles, it’s not based on a standard, it’s not based on something they believe in, it’s just based on the reaction. If the game was at 1 p.m., none of these penalties get called.
“It’s a lack of leadership.”