Yep.
Andre Johnson has been a class act throughout his career in the NFL, and after the incident he took responsibility and profusely apologized–even if the rest of the NFL was quietly applauding someone punching the flinders out of Cortland Finnigan, who probably deserves to get punched out a few more times.
That seems an oddly fine distinction to me. Why should it matter to a player how much of a game they miss? Just getting ejected at all is going to land them in a heap of trouble with their team.
Sarkus
3643
I was responding to this Michael Wilbon comment, but he’s not the only one who has raised the question.
[LEFT]Wilbon said the fact the NFL Network is carrying the Texans-Eagles game on Thursday night and need Johnson is the game is the main factor.
“If the game was on FOX or CBS, the guy would not be playing. Period,” Wilbon said. “It’s a joke. The guys throwing punches like Manny Pacquiao.”
[/LEFT]
Michael Wilbon has been wrong before, and is not “a lot of people”.
DT1
3645
I personally believe Goodell took into account Johnson’s history. (Which I think is appropriate.) But Johnson knows that any future actions would be dealt with more harshly.
…and Cortland Finnegan’s history, which is a self-proclaimed desire to be “the dirtiest player in the NFL.”
DT1
3647
Yep, I was actually at the game and Finnegan was raising his arms in victory to the crowd on his way out. He knew what he was doing and got exactly what he wanted.
Yeah, Wilbon’s wrong. Look for any proposed suspension in-season where it was appealed. Hell, look at the Williams Wall in Minnesota; I think they appealed their suspension something like two years ago now in the Starcaps saga.
Sarkus
3649
I realize that. Nor do I think Johnson should have been suspended. It’s just an interesting topic that is being talked about elsewhere: whether the NFL is handling this correctly.
Sarkus
3650
Some recent news regarding the potential of a team moving to LA. LA now has two competing stadium plans, the most recent one being the group that runs Staples Center and other stuff and wants to build a downtown stadium.
Today a Vikings exec said they’d already been approached by both groups. Of course the Vikings are still trying to get a stadium in Minneapolis, but it doesn’t sound like many think that will be happening soon.
Meanwhile, it looks like interesting things are happening with the Chargers as well.
Nothing will happen until after the labor issues are settled, but some groundwork for a team moving to LA look to be in place.
Lorini
3651
Sorry but it’s not going to happen. Not unless and until there’s some taxpayer money on the table. Which there won’t be.
Sarkus
3652
The City of Industry proposal involves no public money from what they’ve said and what I’ve read. As noted from the second link:
Another group, Majestic Realty Co., wants to build a stadium in Industry, some 25 miles east of Los Angeles.
“We are shovel-ready and continue to work with the NFL and its owners on the best deal for Southern California and the only option in Los Angeles that can be done without public money,” Majestic vice president John Semcken said in an e-mail.
What’s ironic is that the same bluff-calling that caused the Rams to move out of LA could bring a team back–so Lorini, never say never. I don’t think John Shaw and Georgia Frontiere ever in a million years expected (or even wanted) to move the Rams from California. They just wanted a new stadium with modern facilities and revenue generators.
Los Angeles kept calling the Rams bluff, and the Rams kept re-raising to try to leverage a stadium by making goo-goo eyes at other markets and the whole time back in St. Louis you had Tom Eagleton sweetening the deal and knocking down all the barriers to a move…
…and suddenly Shaw had an offer that was basically too good to pass up and that was that.
You can’t weigh it based on when in the game it happened. That’s irrelevant.
And I really don’t see why having the helmets off dramatically escalates things. Yes, they can land a better punch, but NFL players risk greater injury during normal plays. They’d be ecstatic if their greatest fear was having their helmet ripped off to get punched in the face. A helmet to helmet hit is likely to be much more damaging than a punch to the face.
You’ve lived around DC for long enough to see what the lack of an NFL caliber QB does to a franchise, trig…
sluggo
3656
Random Thought: I don’t think Philly can win the Super Bowl, but when they get knocked out the playoffs, it’s going to be pretty entertaining, because they’ll get outscored in a shootout before anyone in the NFC figures out how to stop Vick.
Vick threw his first INT of the year.
Oh, second then. See how fast he falls!
Passed for 300 yards again and had a few effective runs. Vick’s looking awesome.
He gets knocked around a lot, though. That has to be a bit worrisome for Philly fans.
