Even with the indefinite suspension, it’s easy to feel almost as though Myles Garrett has gotten off light for the assault that he committed on Thursday night, at least in the court of public opinion. For some reason, there is a vocal group who I would like to think is the minority who wants to ensure that everybody understands they believe Mason Rudolph was at fault for instigating the sequence that led to his being smashed in the head with his own helmet, and that he, too, should be suspended.
And then there’s Larry Ogunjobi, whose one contribution to the melee was to blindside Rudolph with a shove that spilt him to the ground while he was helmetless and seemingly looking for an official to make sure they were aware of what Garrett did.
Ogunjobi has almost gotten it worse than Garrett, whom for some reason many notable people have felt it necessary to offer qualifiers and context for his assault. Among those burying Ogunjobi was Louis Riddick of ESPN, who called his actions “more cowardly than even what Myles Garrett did, honestly”. “I’ll tell you what, he said he was coming to defend Myles? Well, Myles was on the ground getting stomped by [Maurkice] Pouncey”, Riddick went on. “So if you want to defend your brother that’s getting beat up, then get down there and fight [Maurkice] Pouncey.
.@LRiddickESPN called Larry Ogunjobi’s actions “more cowardly than even what Myles Garrett did, quite honestly.” pic.twitter.com/tPaJtkpv0X
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) November 15, 2019
“Mason’s just standing there looking, and you pushed him on the ground and then you just stood there and looked at him while Myles was still on the ground. While Myles was still on the ground and had DeCastro and [Maurkice] Pouncey on top of him. You weren’t trying to defend him”.
After Garrett violently ripped Rudolph’s helmet off, center Maurkice Pouncey and right guard David DeCastro intervened. Once Garrett hit him in the head, however, the two linemen brought him to the ground, with the former taking multiple swings and one kick while he was on the ground, though pretty much none of them really landed.
Ogunjobi decided to defend Garrett from this action by *checks notes* pushing the quarterback without a helmet down on the ground while he wasn’t looking. That certainly makes a lot of sense. He did later offer an apology during his post-game interview, but that doesn’t change what he did.
He will be suspended for only one game, which means that he will be available to be on the field when these two teams play again a week later. How will the Steelers react to him, knowing what they saw him do?
