Brady Quinn’s Fine Is Inconsistent
November 18th, 2009 at 4:30 pmBy Chris
During the Cleveland Browns’ futile appearance against the Baltimore Ravens, Brady Quinn threw an interception and while he was trying to tackle cornerback Chris Carr, he went low and “cut” linebacker Terrell Suggs, who suffered a badly sprained MCL due to Quinn’s contact. Needless to say, Quinn’s tackle attempt was not well received in the Ravens locker room, nor by Roger Goodell and his band of merry men. In response to Quinn going low on Suggs, the quarterback was fined by the NFL to the tune of $10,000.
Meanwhile, Jay Cutler was recently fined $20,000 for “abusive conduct” towards a referee, while Chad Ochocinco was also docked $20K for his “bribe attempt” of an official when the Bengals played the Ravens a couple of weeks ago.
Is it just me, or are the Ravens always involved in controversial penalties and fines?
Digressions about Baltimore aside, does anyone else find it odd that if you go at a players knees, the resulting fine is actually less than if a player “interferes” with an official? The message handed down by the NFL’s gatekeepers is clear: go after a player’s knees — and indirectly, his livelihood — that’ll cost you, but if you even joke around with the referees, that’ll cost you even more.
This brings up a follow-up question: What’s more important to Goodell and company? Protecting the health of their players — you know, the people that actually make the NFL worth watching — or making sure the officials don’t get harassed?
What’s more detrimental to the game? Losing a very good player to an unnecessary knee injury or protecting the sanctity of the officials? Here’s an even more simple way to approach this, who do fans pay to see when they go to an NFL game? Ed Hochuli and his crew or Terrell Suggs and his teammates put a defensive beatdown on opposing teams? Don’t get me wrong, Hochuli’s arms are impressive, but I don’t see anyone rushing out to buy one of his jerseys.
Maybe the NFL needs to concentrate on making sure their punishments fit the crimes.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
[...] Brady Quinn’s Fine is Inconsistent (Much Like His Game) [...]
November 19th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
I agree with you bro. Even though T Sizzle is a big dude and that hit wasn’t a career ender, it was certainly more viscious than offering a ref a “bribe”. Ridiculous.