It’s nearly two weeks since the brawl erupted at the end of the Steelers and Browns game in Cleveland, one that ended with the eyes of the world on an incident between Myles Garrett and Mason Rudolph. After a tussle on the ground, Garrett pulled off Rudolph’s helmet and connected with an onrushing Rudolph, luckily with a glancing blow. Garrett was indefinitely suspended, and further details have begun to leak.
While I will try to be unbiased as a Steelers fan, I’m sure that will be difficult. However, there are four reflections from the incident that I want to share, and an attempt to move forward at the end.
1. How Lucky We Got
For a situation in which one football player (and one of the strongest in Myles Garrett) took a six pound object and hit another on the head with it, the fact that Rudolph wasn’t seriously injured is really quite lucky. In fact, Rudolph was less injured than Juju Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson, two Steelers receivers who left the game with head injuries.
At the end of the day, if the helmet connects slightly more flush on Rudolph’s head, physics suggests that the hit could be fatal. For everyone involved, thankfully, it did not come to that.
2. Thoughts on the Suspensions
Emotionally, I was urging for a potential two season ban for Garrett when the incident actually happened. With more time to think about all the factors and precedent, I think that suspending Garrett for the rest of the season is probably appropriate, with perhaps a slight trickle into next year depending on what the NFL thinks of his contrition.
Maurkice Pouncey’s suspension seemed right to me. Suspending him so that he’s not in the Browns-Steelers game this weekend is the right move, given Pouncey’s aggressive style of play and his willingness to toe the line at times. As a Steelers fan, I understand and sort of love what he did – it is the job of the leader of an offensive line to protect their quarterback. That being said – punching someone’s helmet or kicking someone in their pads is both wrong and objectively stupid – you are as likely to get hurt doing those things as to hurt the target.
I’m not sure why Ogunjobi was suspended, even though he did push Rudolph – that seemed like just a fine for me.
As to the question of whether Rudolph should have been suspended – I happen to think he should have been. Regardless of the racial issues discussed below, he was grappling with Garrett first on the ground and then charged him. For his sake, he shouldn’t play in the Browns game, and given what may have been said, a suspension feels appropriate. Watching our quarterbacks play the last couple of weeks, a Rudolph suspension would have helped the Steelers anyway.
3. The Racial Question
It was leaked last week that Garrett accuses Rudolph of using a racial slur at some point, likely when the two were on the ground grappling. The NFL has investigated and said there was no evidence to show that it had happened. Many came out and questioned why this took nearly a week to hit news, but sources such as Chris Long said that those close to Garrett were informed of this the day after the game.
Given Rudolph’s known status as a Trump fan and MAGA hat wearer, not to mention a weird crush on Tomi Lahren, this doesn’t seem like the most shocking possibility. Rudolph denies saying anything inflammatory, and both teams are supporting their guy’s side of the story. If Rudolph said anything, both shame on him and what a moron he is. If Garrett lied about it, shame on him for ruining Rudolph’s reputation. I don’t know what happened, but no matter what did, someone just looks like even more of an asshole.
4. Larger Football Questions
Two things struck me once this happened. First, while suspending the players and taking away their game checks does perhaps incentivize cleaner play, it is not enough. The Cleveland Browns came into the game against the Steelers with the most penalties and unsportsmanlike penalties in the league. Before the Garrett incident even happened, Damarious Randall, a safety for the Browns, had been ejected for a dirty hit. Teams will only really start to actually change once they are punished themselves. Why don’t we start punishing the coaches and executives of teams who repeatedly commit wanton penalties with disregard for other players? Until there is punishment at the top, nothing will change.
Secondly, it makes me understand my evolving relationship with football. A couple years ago, basketball passed football as my favorite sport to watch. While basketball has its share of awful injuries, the finesse and skill required is both more appealing and easier to watch than the brute violence of football. While I continue to love my Steelers, I wonder if incidents like this precipitate the decline in my football watching, and if I am a proxy for many others. The same helmet that is used as an excuse for why NFL players aren’t the same level of star as NBA players was used an weapon above and beyond the usual, and the symbolism is striking.
Moving Forward
The Steelers and Browns will be playing this coming Sunday, and I expect that the atmosphere on the field will be emotionally charged. Garrett and Pouncey will not be playing, and it looks likely that Rudolph will be on the sidelines, having lost his job to duck-calling legend Devlin Hodges. Whatever happens on the scoreboard, I hope that cooler heads prevail on the field and that it doesn’t look like the first matchup between these teams.
