The Pittsburgh Steelers are now into the regular season, in which they entered with big aspirations, in spite of a tumultuous start to the offseason. Significant players were lost via trade and free agency, players who have helped shape the course of the franchise in recent years. We even now sit here without Ben Roethlisberger after just two games.
The team made some bold moves this offseason and in some areas of the roster look quite a bit different than they did a year ago. That would especially be the case at wide receiver and inside linebacker, where they have new starters. And quarterback was suddenly added to that list.
How will the season progress without Roethlisberger, behind Mason Rudolph? How will the young players advance into their expected roles? Will the new coaches be up to the task? Who is looking good in games? Who is sitting out due to injury?
These are the sorts of questions among many others that we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football has become a year-round pastime and there is always a question to be asked, though there is rarely a concrete answer, as I’ve learned in my years of doing this.
Question: What will Myles Garrett’s assault on Mason Rudolph cost him?
Even though it’s only tangentially a Steelers question, I don’t think there’s a bigger one in the NFL world right now. All eyes are on Roger Goodell and the league office, waiting to see how they respond to the situation that unfolded at the end of last night’s game.
Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, of course, ripped off Mason Rudolph’s helmet, and then when Rudolph proceeded toward him to confront him, the defender landed a blow, with the helmet, square to the quarterback’s head.
He was subsequently ejected, as were Larry Ogunjobi and Maurkice Pouncey, but it goes without saying that Garrett’s actions were by far the worst in the scrum, and were the reason that the rest of it even happened.
It would be nothing short of stunning if he somehow manages to only walk away with an ejection from what he did. He will be suspended. How many games? For the rest of the year? Will it end with just the rest of the year, or might it be indefinite?
The league earlier this season suspended Vontaze Burfict of the Oakland Raiders for the latest in a very long line of illegal hits that he was responsible for over a period of years. I don’t believe Garrett has much of a history of illegal hits, but this one was criminal.
