The news cycle isn’t close to being done yet with the brawl that took place late in the Pittsburgh Steelers Thursday night road game against the Cleveland Browns and that likely will continue to be the case through the rest of the weekend. On Friday, Steelers team president Art Rooney II released a short statement in which he addressed what all transpired late in the Thursday night game against the Browns.
“As an organization, we are disappointed with what occurred last night near the end of our game against the Cleveland Browns. The actions of the players involved were not something that should be part of any football game.
Our players, coaches and everyone in the Steelers organization understand that we must always maintain composure, no matter what happens. After a hard-fought game between two rivals, it is a shame that the game ended that way.”
The Steelers and Browns both had their organizations fined $250,000 by the NFL for the Thursday night incident Friday morning, and center Maurkice Pouncey was issued a three-game suspension for the role that he played during the melee. The main Thursday night combatant, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, was suspended indefinitely by the NFL, for ripping the helmet off of Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and then swinging it and hitting him in the head. Browns defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi was also suspended for a game for his actions in the melee.
Other punishments are likely to be handed down by the NFL in the form of fines by Tuesday and there figures to be quite a few of those. Rudolph will likely be fined for his actions Thursday night, but he’s not expected to be suspended.
Garrett released a statement on Friday as well in which he apologized to his organization, his teammates and Rudolph for his actions.
