Three players were given suspensions that will cause players to miss time, and both the Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers were given $250,000 fines as an organization for the incident.
The Browns will lose Myles Garrett for the remainder of the regular season and possibly a few in the 2020 season as his suspension will not officially end until Garrett meets with the commissioner during the off-season.
Garrett will be suspended without pay and will pay an undisclosed fine.
Larry Ogunjobi will be suspended without pay for next Sunday's game against Miami for pushing down Mason Rudolph from behind and will also pay an undisclosed fine.
Both players are expected to appeal their suspensions, but I'm not sure much will change.
I think that Ogunjobi may have a chance to have his penalty reduced to a fine, but I don't think Garrett will receive a reduction, although the league may quietly tell Garrett off the record that if he says the right things about the incident and keeps his record in order that he might not miss a game in 2020, although I'd doubt that they would announce that publically now.
The loss of both players will be a hit to the defensive line that has been without starting defensive end Olivier Vernon of late and should Vernon be unable to return for the Dolphins game, the Browns would be without three of their four starters on the defensive line.
I would bet that the main beneficiary in playing time in the position vacated by Garrett will be Chad Thomas, who has been a rotational player and will likely move into a starting role, while Chris Smith should see more snaps as I would guess that Smith would move into the rotational slot of Thomas.
Devaroe Lawrence will replace Ogunjobi at defensive tackle, should his suspension hold up.
Pittsburgh's Maurkice Pouncey was suspended for three games and also fined an undisclosed amount for the Steelers for his role in the fight where the Pittsburgh center threw multiple punches and kicked Myles Garrett, while Garrett was down on the turf.
The loss of Pouncey, who is Pittsburgh's best offensive lineman, from the Steelers offensive line for games against the Bengals, Browns, and Cardinals will hurt Pittsburgh's late-season run at a playoff berth.
I didn't have a lot of issues with the suspensions.
I thought Myles Garrett's six games is fair, although should it stretch into the 2020 season, I'd consider it a little excessive.
I believe that Maurkice Pouncey's three games out of the lineup are reasonable because I think that Pouncey's penalty should be half of what Garrett received.
Larry Ogunjobi's one game term might have been fair, but a fine would be better-suited, since apparently Mason Rudolph, who started the incident and then inflamed it, has received no punishment.
I write apparently because Rudolph has said he expects to be fined, but yet in the suspension announcement, Rudolph was not mentioned, although it was noted that others could still be punished and I expect with many in the media along with fans stating their problems with Rudolph receiving nothing for his actions that Rudolph will get a fine.
If Rudolph would have gotten a game, I wouldn't have quibbled with one game for Ogunjobi, but if a fine is acceptable for Rudolph, I would say the fine would be acceptable for Ogunjobi for his pushing of Rudolph to the ground.
I'd also say that Pouncey missing the game against the Browns in Pittsburgh might be a good thing because I'm willing to bet that it is going to be a crazy game that could be extremely dirty and anything that diffuses that is a good idea.
I'm not sure when the appeal process will be held, but Ogunjobi and the Browns might decide to drop the appeal if they sense that they will not win it as the Browns will need him more for a road game against Pittsburgh than for a home game against the Dolphins, should they need to make that decision.
All and all, I only have one complaint- the lack of a penalty to Mason Rudolph and I'm willing to bet that Rudolph will be given one, although it will likely be a financial one rather than one that sees a missed game.
Back later with the Buckeyes visit to Rutgers.
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