Steelers Browns brawl

[c_hawkbob]

Garret's gotta be done for the season at least, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some ambitious DA try to bring him up on Assault with a deadly weapons charge. I can't think of a single thing a player can do in today's political NFL climate worse than swinging a helmet, with force at another player's head. He's lucky contact was with the only padded portion of the helmet available to such an act.

Rudolf might get a game, but I think more likely a fine.

[NorthHawk]

Pouncey got 3 games for trying to kick Garrett, and Garrett has been suspended indefinitely at the moment,
so we can expect at least 8 games I would think as well as a substantial fine.
Ogunjobi (sp) got 1 game.

[Hawktawk]

I dont know why Garrett was so upset. I've heard Mason Rudolph might have punched him where men dont punch men

But dude, you just won 21-7 in primetime to keep your postseason hopes on life support and you hit an opposing QB on the head with a helmet? Not real smart...I'm incredulous how many of these NFL guys do stupid stuff without thinking about the risk to their careers.

[NorthHawk]

What's even dumber is he didn't have to take Rudolph to the ground.
There were only a few seconds left and the game was essentially over.

[RiverDog]

I didn't see the brawl live as I fell asleep in my recliner, but I agree 100% with C-bob, that Garrett should be brought up on charges of assault with a deadly weapon. Had he connected in the right place with that helmet, he could have very easily caused a major, life threatening injury. I see it being no different than a bar room fight. Unless it is in self defense, which this clearly wasn't, if you escalate a fist fight by grabbing a pitcher or a pool que and using it as a weapon (of which I was once a witness to) you can expect a trip to the slam and at least an investigation into a possible assault charge.

I'm sure glad that Pouncey intervened, and if I were a Steelers fan, would be starting a drive to pay his fine for him. That's exactly what an offensive lineman is supposed to do, protect his quarterback, or for that matter, any teammate or friend that is in a compromising position like Rudolph was, and in my view, his actions were totally justified, even kicking Garrett when he was down. I agree that Rudolph should be fined/suspended, but not Pouncey.

It is somewhat refreshing that Garrett has admitted his guilt, apologized, and appears ready to accept his punishment, and that should be taken into consideration when it comes time to issue a final judgement. But he should get AT LEAST an 8 game suspension, which would include the first two regular season games next year, and, as was eluded to, a visit to the courthouse.

[NorthHawk]

He really lost it at a time when it didn’t matter. What crossed my mind was “Roid Rage”.
I wonder if the powers that be have a process for these types of situations (much less severe,
of course) as it is out of character if you believe teammates both current and past.

[RiverDog]

He really lost it at a time when it didn’t matter. What crossed my mind was “Roid Rage”.
I wonder if the powers that be have a process for these types of situations (much less severe,
of course) as it is out of character if you believe teammates both current and past.

He has been fined for a total of $50K for various personal foul penalties this season, but they do seem to fit into a different category than what we saw last night.

I want to see him brought up on charges simply based on principle. If the court decides to drop or reduce those charges based on a clean record, then I'm OK with it. But I want him to have to face the music.

The Cleveland police have said that a complaint has to be filed in order for them to take action, which I find a little odd. I didn't think that it would require a complaint if evidence of a crime having been committed existed and was readily accessible in order for them to take action. In any event, Rudolph's agent indicated that they might file a complaint with the police, so we'll see. Rudolph has called Garrett a coward, so he might be in the mood to file charges.

As far as the league's discipline goes, it has to be at least 8 games so it stretches into the next season. There needs to be a long reminder of what he did and that it's not acceptable.

[Aseahawkfan]

Man, Cleveland seems to attract these players. He's their best D-line guy. Too bad for them.

[jshawaii22]

I didn't see the brawl live as I fell asleep in my recliner, but I agree 100% with C-bob, that Garrett should be brought up on charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

OH, Stop it! Are you kidding me??? Brought up on charges??? for what? There was no "assault", this wasn't Bertussi in the NHL or Juan Merichal whacking Roseburo, who actually got hurt with a f'n bat over his head.

The swing of the helmet didn't even knock him back or over. No blood no injury of any kind. The hit the Pitt QB took a few seconds later in his back was a worse foul. However, for stupidity at the highest level, and in front of a national TV audience and all the talking heads, Garrett got when he deserved for what he did on the field... 10 games and a million $$$+++ out of his wallet. To me, even that seems a lot, but it's Cleveland, so no one will care. As a friend told me later, imagine if it was Brady he swung at?

So, if you watch the whole play, you can't just write off who instigated it, not once, but twice was the Pitt QB. Before Garrett did anything illegal on the field, Pitts QB hit him in his nuts, tried to pull his helmet off AND after Garrett was initially pulled off him (no foul of any kind to that point, he was just laying on top of him after a sack), that's when I think it was Pitts David DeCastro who was pulling Garrett off the QB and Garrett had his fingers into the QB's helmet, While DeCastro pulled him off the QB, that's when his helmet came off and the stupid QB went after Garrett again.

Only then, did Garrett became "the aggressor". Watch the film while you're awake. And this would of never happened if the QB hadn't wildly, with his arms flailing away, charged him.

[RiverDog]

OH, Stop it! Are you kidding me??? Brought up on charges??? for what? There was no "assault", this wasn't Bertussi in the NHL or Juan Merichal whacking Roseburo, who actually got hurt with a f'n bat over his head.

The swing of the helmet didn't even knock him back or over. No blood no injury of any kind. The hit the Pitt QB took a few seconds later in his back was a worse foul. However, for stupidity at the highest level, and in front of a national TV audience and all the talking heads, Garrett got when he deserved for what he did on the field... 10 games and a million $$$+++ out of his wallet. To me, even that seems a lot, but it's Cleveland, so no one will care. As a friend told me later, imagine if it was Brady he swung at?

So, if you watch the whole play, you can't just write off who instigated it, not once, but twice was the Pitt QB. Before Garrett did anything illegal on the field, Pitts QB hit him in his nuts, tried to pull his helmet off AND after Garrett was initially pulled off him (no foul of any kind to that point, he was just laying on top of him after a sack), that's when I think it was Pitts David DeCastro who was pulling Garrett off the QB and Garrett had his fingers into the QB's helmet, While DeCastro pulled him off the QB, that's when his helmet came off and the stupid QB went after Garrett again.

Only then, did Garrett became "the aggressor". Watch the film while you're awake. And this would of never happened if the QB hadn't wildly, with his arms flailing away, charged him.

No, I'm not kidding you, and I'm not the only one who feels that way. The possible filing of charges was all over the various sports programs yesterday, so there's no need for your smart arse remark about watching the film while I'm awake.

The difference here is that Garrett escalated the incident by using a helmet as a weapon. That's where the line was crossed and should instigate at least an investigation into possible assault charges. If the DA doesn't think it's serious enough, then fine, they can drop the charges. But at the very least, LE needs to get involved and put this guy's feet to the fire. The consequences of the action, ie no significant injury, isn't relevant to the filing of charges. It's like saying "he shot at him but he missed, so no harm, no foul".

I agree that Rudolph (the PIT QB) should be suspended/fined as well, if for nothing else, that it takes two to Tango. I know that Pouncey will get suspended, and part of me understands the rationale, but I can't help defending him as he did what every person should do when a teammate or friend is in peril like that.

[jshawaii22]

I'm not defending him on the football field side of it, just the idea that a DA in Cleveland would stop for 1 minute on this. No they wouldn't and didn't.
Far worse things have happened, look at baseball pitchers throwing at batter's heads. Is there a difference? Certainly a baseball hitting you in the head at 100mph could and would be just as bad. So, no, I don't think Garrett will get anything else and never talk of a 'arrest and chargeable offense' --

[RiverDog]

I'm not defending him on the football field side of it, just the idea that a DA in Cleveland would stop for 1 minute on this. No they wouldn't and didn't.

Far worse things have happened, look at baseball players throwing at batter's heads. Is there a difference? Certainly a baseball hitting you in the head at 100mph could and would be just as bad. So, no, I don't think Garrett will get anything else and never talk of a 'arrest and chargeable offense' --

There's not the clear intent in nearly all cases of baseball pitchers throwing at batters as there was with Garrett swinging a solid object at an exposed head and making contact. Indeed, in most of the cases, pitchers are not trying to hit a batter let alone hit him in the head. If there was an obvious intent that a pitcher was throwing at a batter's head, then damn right they ought to be brought up on charges.

The point I was making about the Cleveland PD's response was that they said that they didn't investigate the matter because no one had filed a complaint. What they should have said is that they did not see enough evidence of a crime having been committed. In this case, the entire police force minus those on duty were probably watching the game and saw what happened. I sure hope that's not LE's policy, that they have to wait for a complaint to be filed before they'll investigate. There's certainly no laws preventing them from at least talking to those involved.

I'm not saying that Garrett should have been convicted or even tried. Personally, I don't think it meets the definition of assault with a deadly weapon and as a potential juror would not vote to convict based on the evidence currently available. What I'm saying is that this action should have at least popped up on the police radar, have someone in a blue uniform pay a visit to his house. Given the high visibility of it, questioning Garrett would reinforce the notion that there's a fine line between a common, relatively harmless fight and assault with the distinct possibility of inflicting a life threatening injury.

[RiverDog]

It appears that Rudolph won't be taking any legal action against Garrett, saying he considers it exclusively a league matter:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/re ... spartanntp

It's one of those "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" sort of things. Rudolph is lucky that he didn't get suspended and it would seem a bit chicken chit if he were to be seen as wanting Garrett to suffer more than he already is. Plus Garrett has already expressed considerable remorse about the situation, even apologized to Rudolph. And he has bigger fish to fry as the Steelers are still very much in the playoff hunt.