While Pittsburgh Steelers guard Trai Turner will likely be fined for spitting at Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Marquel Lee in the third quarter of Sunday’s game art Heinz Field, the veteran isn’t likely to be suspended for his actions.
On Monday, Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reported that Turner, who was disqualified for spitting at Lee in the second half of Sunday’s game isn’t likely to receive a suspension.
Turner allegedly spit at Lee as a retaliation for being spit on, according to Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin after the game.
“Somebody spit in his [Turner’s] face,” Tomlin said during his postgame press conference. “And so I understand the 15-yard penalties and so forth, gaining control of the game and stuff, I just—Trai is not a young guy, he’s not overly emotional; he’s a flat-liner. For him to respond the way that he responded, what transpired had to transpire. I was stating that case to them. I didn’t believe he did enough to be kicked out of the football game. That was just my opinion.”
Tomlin tried to plead Turner’s case to the referees upon finding out the guard had been disqualified, but to no avail.
It will now be interesting to see if the league fines the player that allegedly spit at Turner first. We assume that player was Lee, but the television tape does not show if he did or not. Perhaps the all-22 tape will.
NFL fines are usually known and reported by Saturday night, so we’ll likely have to wait that long to see what Turner’s fine is and if a Raiders player gets fined for spitting, as well. Steelers inside linebacker Robert Spillane will likely be fined this week for his hit on quarterback Derek Carr in the first half of Sunday’s game. That hit was penalized.
