Steelers’ Maurkice Pouncey gets 3-game prohibition ; Browns’ Myles Garrett suspended inconclusively

Steelers’ Maurkice Pouncey gets 3-game prohibition ; Browns’ Myles Garrett suspended inconclusively

The NFL reported Friday that the Cleveland Browns protective end has been suspended for the remainder of this season, including the end of the season games should the Browns make it, and should meet with the official’s office before being reestablished in 2020.

Garrett ripped the protective cap off Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and clubbed them in the head with it in the last seconds of Thursday night’s down.

“Last night, I made a terrible mistake,” Garrett said in a statement issued Friday. “I lost my cool and what I did was selfish and unacceptable. I know that we are all responsible for our actions, and I can only prove my true character through my actions moving forward.”

“I want to apologize to Mason Rudolph, my teammates, our entire organization, our fans and to the NFL. I know I have to be accountable for what happened, learn from my mistake, and I fully intend to do so.”

Garrett’s suspension, which is at any rate six games, is the longest in NFL history for a solitary on-field occurrence.

In an announcement, the NFL stated, “Garrett violated unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct rules, as well as fighting, removing the helmet of an opponent and using the helmet as a weapon.”

The NFL likewise suspended Browns guarded handle Larry Ogunjobi one game for pushing Rudolph in the back and to the ground, not long after Garrett had slugged the Steelers quarterback in the head with the cap. Pittsburgh focus Maurkice Pouncey, who hopped into Garrett, kicking and punching him after Rudolph had been struck, was suspended three games.

Each of the three players – who were launched out from Thursday’s down, a 21-7 triumph for Cleveland – are suspended without pay and will be fined. What’s more, the NFL has fined the Browns and Steelers associations $250,000 each for the episode.

Garrett will request the suspension, a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. Pouncey and Ogunjobi additionally have three business days to record an intrigue.

“What I did was foolish, and I shouldn’t allow myself to slip like that,” Garrett said after the game. “That’s out of character, but a situation like that where it’s an emotional game, and I allowed myself to fall into those emotions with what happened.”

On Friday, Browns mentor Freddie Kitchens said the group will keep on supporting Garrett.

“He understands the magnitude of what occurred last night, and he’s very remorseful, he’s very sorry for his actions,” Kitchen said. “They understands that they let themself down, that they let their teammates down, they let their organization down.

“We look at our team as a family. And in a family, sometimes family members make mistakes. You support them in every way that you can, even if it’s an egregious mistake.”

Rudolph doesn’t foresee a suspension, however they are supporting for a potential fine, a source told Fowler. The NFL left the entryway open for “extra control” of different players under the group’s standard responsibility process, including the individuals who left the seat and ran onto the field to enter the battle region.

Tans proprietors Jimmy and Dee Haslam gave an announcement not long after the NFL’s decision.

“We are extremely disappointed in what transpired last evening at the end of our game,” the statement said. “There is no place for that in football and that is not reflective of the core values we strive for as an organization. We sincerely apologize to Mason Rudolph and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Myles Garrett has been a good teammate and member of our organization and community for the last three years but his actions last night were completely unacceptable. We understand the consequences from the league for his actions.”

Garrett had just been fined more than $50,000 this season, for punching Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker and for a couple recently hits on New York Jets quarterback Trevor Siemian, the second thumped Siemian out for the season with a lower leg damage.

Before Garrett, the longest boycott in NFL history came in 2006, when then-Tennessee Titans cautious lineman Albert Haynesworth was suspended five games for removing the protective cap from Dallas Cowboys focus Andre Gurode and kicking and trampling their face.

Thursday’s skirmish began when Rudolph dumped off a go to running back Trey Edmunds late in the final quarter, at that point was hauled to the ground by Garrett.

Rudolph seemed to attempt to remove Garrett’s head protector when the guarded end was over their after a late hit. Rudolph likewise kicked them in the crotch zone starting from the earliest stage. When they stood up, Garrett ripped off Rudolph’s protective cap and took a swing with it, associating on the highest point of Rudolph’s helmetless head.

Once off the ground with his cap in Garrett’s grasp, Rudolph progressed toward Garrett in light of the fact that he believed they had “an unresolved issue with him after what he did.” That’s when Garrett swung the head protector at Rudolph.

“I know it’s bush league and a total coward move on his part,” Rudolph said. “I get it. It’s OK, though. I’m not going to back down from any bully out there.”

Different Steelers and Browns players left the seat during the battle and hurried to the end zone.

“As an organization, we are disappointed with what occurred last night near the end of our game against the Cleveland Browns,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a statement. “The activities of the players included were not something that ought to be a piece of any football match-up.

“Our players, coaches and everyone in the Steelers organization understand that we must always maintain composure, no matter what happens. After a hard-fought game between two rivals, it is a shame that the game ended that way.”

The Browns and Steelers again play each other on Dec. 1 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

After the game, Pouncey wasn’t stressed over his own discipline from the battle. They told journalists he went into “assurance mode” in the wake of watching Garrett hit their quarterback with their head protector.

“At that point, it’s bigger than football,” Pouncey said. “It’s protection. … He could have killed him. What if he’d hit him in the temple?”

In spite of the hit, Rudolph said they was “fine” and “great to go” after the game.

Pouncey, alongside Steelers guarded lineman Cam Heyward, required Garrett’s suspension after the game.

“Hands down,” Heyward said. “And I told those other players on the other side, ‘You all better handle that.’ I don’t care who is out there. We play this game, we all work for it — but for someone to use a helmet as a weapon is uncalled for.”

After the game, a Steelers fan began a GoFundMe to pay for Pouncey’s fine.

Pittsburgh mentor Mike Tomlin had no remark on the occurrence, saying just, “You guys saw what happened.”

A few Cleveland players, including quarterback Baker Mayfield, denounced the occurrence.

“He just wanted to apologize to us,” Bitonio said. “Said he lost his cool. Said it was a moment of weakness.”

Tans hostile gatekeeper Joel Bitonio said Garrett tended to the group before Friday.

“He simply needed to apologize to us,” Bitonio said. “Said he lost his cool. Said it was a snapshot of shortcoming.”

Martin Torres

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