[teejers1]

Football is different - it's a violent sport and fights are to be expected.  They even occur among teammates during practice.  I'm not saying that it's okay, or that there shouldn't be a punishment, but Garrett's punishment struck me as a bit too severe. Ray Rice gets two games for beating the crap out of a woman, while Garrett gets half a season or more for escalating a fight in the heat of battle (albeit very egregiously) with a grown man who was kind of asking for it.

Um, Ray Rice was punished for life by the NFL.

And that was ridiculous, and here's why.  In a show of "moral triumph" - and after taking heat for being too lax and inconsistent on dealing with domestic violence - the NFL comes out with a policy.  Good (everyone thinks).  The policy was 4 games for a first suspension.  And then the punishments escalated exponentially for repeat offense(s), IIRC.  Good.  Or so everyone thinks.

Anyway, Rice gets the four game punishment for his first-time offense.  Then the video comes out.  Then he gets banned for life.  [Predictably, and entirely justifiably, the victim opposes the ban and would like the father of their children to, you know, be able to provide for the family.  Nope.  That entire episode was handled poorly].

WTF do NFL poo bahs think occurs in domestic violence situations?  Exactly what we saw in the video (in a lot of instances).  And yet, because it was on video (and not just on a police report, with pictures), policy goes out the window.  Rice is banned for life, and let's just hope things work out okay for fiance and kids.

Have a policy. Stick with it.  (BTW, if the video made you uncomfortable with only a 4 game 'first time offense' suspension, then fine, change the policy, or have a range of punishment for first time; second-time, etc.).

As for Garrett, et al.  The punishments seemed about right - and if Rudolph got one for trying to pull helmet off initially, then that would have been fine, too.

P.S.  Garrett may just be a bad guy - think he has had a few other instances of potentially alarming behavior (alarming as in: this guy may not adjust well to life post-football).

[teejers1]

Football is different - it's a violent sport and fights are to be expected.  They even occur among teammates during practice.  I'm not saying that it's okay, or that there shouldn't be a punishment, but Garrett's punishment struck me as a bit too severe. Ray Rice gets two games for beating the crap out of a woman, while Garrett gets half a season or more for escalating a fight in the heat of battle (albeit very egregiously) with a grown man who was kind of asking for it.

Um, Ray Rice was punished for life by the NFL.

And that was ridiculous, and here's why.  In a show of "moral triumph" - and after taking heat for being too lax and inconsistent on dealing with domestic violence - the NFL comes out with a policy.  Good (everyone thinks).  The policy was 4 games for a first suspension.  And then the punishments escalated exponentially for repeat offense(s), IIRC.  Good.  Or so everyone thinks.

Anyway, Rice gets the four game punishment for his first-time offense.  Then the video comes out.  Then he gets banned for life.  [Predictably, and entirely justifiably, the victim opposes the ban and would like the father of their children to, you know, be able to provide for the family.  Nope.  That entire episode was handled poorly].

WTF do NFL poo bahs think occurs in domestic violence situations?  Exactly what we saw in the video (in a lot of instances).  And yet, because it was on video (and not just on a police report, with pictures), policy goes out the window.  Rice is banned for life, and let's just hope things work out okay for fiance and kids.

Have a policy. Stick with it.  (BTW, if the video made you uncomfortable with only a 4 game 'first time offense' suspension, then fine, change the policy, or have a range of punishment for first time; second-time, etc.).

As for Garrett, et al.  The punishments seemed about right - and if Rudolph got one for trying to pull helmet off initially, then that would have been fine, too.

P.S.  Garrett may just be a bad guy - think he has had a few other instances of potentially alarming behavior (alarming as in: this guy may not adjust well to life post-football).