Just when you thought this crazy Pittsburgh Steelers’ season couldn’t get any crazier, it has.
The Zapruder Film of 2013 has come to the Steel City and is creating more conversation than anything that happened on the actual field of play.
Want some “good” news though? This is far from over as a talking point. In fact, it is only heating up and when the National Football League hands down its’ punishment it will get down-right insane.
The only exception to this is if the NFL decides to just hit Tomlin with a relatively small fine. I would consider “small” somewhere in the neighborhood of $150,000 or less and I don’t even think that’s an option.
What everyone seems to be expecting however is a much bigger fine and possibly a suspension or loss of a draft pick. Both of those punishments by the way would run completely opposite to what the NFL did in the New York Jets’ case and both are way too harsh.
If you recall, a few years back a strength and conditioning coach came on the field and tripped a Miami player. He was fined $100,000 by the NFL.
What Tomlin may or may not have done is much less significant than that scenario but I don’t expect Roger Goodell to follow the precedent.
He has often used the Steelers as his poster children for poor behavior whether it was with Ben Roethlisberger, James Harrison or voting against the collective bargaining agreement.
When the decision comes down from ‘Mt. Goodell’ you can expect a firestorm once again in the Steeler Nation. We can always look at the film for answers though right?
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @steeldad and follow the website at @SCBlitz. He can be heard Mondays on Trib-Live Radio at 630pm ET talking Steelers and is a blogger for ESPN 970 in Pittsburgh.
4 comments
Sounds like Adolf Goodell is gonna hit the Steelers with a punishment comparable to what the Spygate Cheatriots got… I think it’s crap. What’s pathetic is, Tomlin affected one play, while Spygate crapped on the games’ integrity for 6 years. This should be over, and done with already since there’s no tapes to destroy. Goodell’s just gonna drag it out just to make an example of the Steelers. The Commish is a joke.
No question Ed. I’m really starting to think this will be in the neighborhood of $300,000 and loss of a low round draft pick. Goodell will cite “doing things the right way” and will ignore questions about Jets’ precedent.
As long as there’s no loss of draft picks, I really don’t care. The NFL absolutely has to save face and come down hard here, because of the what COULD have happened. They have to make it clear that anyone even thinking about doing something like this intentionally would be in big trouble.
I’d be ok with a 1 game suspension, even if I agree that it’s harsh, just because I think it effectively sends the message without really hurting the team long term.
I’m against either a suspension or a loss of draft picks. Fine? Go ahead and let it rip…