It's only a matter of time before we read that he has been cut and is history. I fully expect to read about it at any time.

Would they cut Johnson over this one altercation or has he been a problem child in general?

I imagine NFL team owners are more cautious than ever in regards to brawlers as a result of the whole Hernandez situation. (The level of his alleged criminal activity still blows my mind -- his trial is set to start in January and his defense's request for team records is an area of legal contention for the Patriots.)

(07-23-2014, 03:28 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: Would they cut Johnson over this one altercation or has he been a problem child in general?

Well...he only played twice in 2013 and no one (as in, fan) knows what his status would be this year. He's not what I would consider a major player at all and yeah, I do believe he will be cut. I haven't known him to be a problem child but this type of behavior doesn't fit in with what the team is all about. I feel certain Coach Kelly will not tolerate this, I don't believe he would tolerate it from one of his stars either.

Pretty effin' stupid to get himself in such a situation when it sounds like he was already hanging by a thread.

Bad enough to be drunken brawling when you're a public figure of sorts, but really bad to be pushing cops around as if the rules don't apply.

These guys are only human, but sometimes it's hard for me to understand how they can just piss away such incredible opportunities.

(07-23-2014, 05:36 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: These guys are only human, but sometimes it's hard for me to understand how they can just piss away such incredible opportunities.

The NFL is filled with men like that and I don't get it either. It really is an opportunity of a lifetime so when they piss it away there is rarely any sympathy for them.

Keelan was a third string safety that joined the team last year. The Eagles safeties were terrible last year. They made it a priority this offseason, bringing in Malcolm Jenkins (former starter for the Saints), Chris Maragos (Former backup for the Seahawks), and drafting Ed Reynolds. They also brought in Davon Morgan and Daytwoine Lowe, one of whom was undrafted 2 years ago and one that was undrafted this year. So basically, Keelan was #5 in an 8 deep position camp battle that will probably keep 5 players when they cut the roster from 90 to 53. In my eyes, he just made coaches choice very easy. He handed his paycheck to Ed Reynolds.

I actually saw this story and thought about posting it here... but I don't know the details. Could be the cops were hasslin his buddy and they pushed Keelan first... doesn't really matter. The situation stands that he was drunk outside a bar at 2am less than a week before training camp starts. Doesn't sound like a player focused on winning a job. Definitely stupid on his part.

Ray Rice, Baltimore Ravens RB and Janay Palmer

The 27-year-old All Pro pleaded not guilty to a third-degree charge of aggravated assault in May after surveillance footage showed him dragging Palmer (his then-fiancee, now-wife) seemingly unconscious out of an Atlantic City elevator after allegedly striking her.

As a first-time offender, Rice avoided standing trial and was accepted into a diversion program. Today, the NFL announced that the league's disciplinary action against Rice was suspension from the first two games of the season and a fine.

NFL Commissioner Goodell's public statement:
"As you acknowledged during our meeting, your conduct was unquestionably inconsistent with league polices and the standard of behavior required of everyone who is part of the NFL. The league is an entity that depends on integrity and in the confidence of the public and we simply cannot tolerate conduct that endangers others or reflects negatively on our game. This is particularly true with respect to domestic violence and other forms of violence against women."

Given some of the other suspensions levied by the NFL during Goodell's tenure, many fans and media members found Rice's punishment far too lenient.

Ref: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/24...17445.html
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Is the league's punishment of Rice really too lenient as compared to disciplinarian action levied upon other who've broken the players code of contact and gotten into trouble with the law?

I don't know the answer, just curious about what others know/think about such matters.

P.s. I wouldn't date or marry a man who hit me for any amount of money -- I hope his wife is safe.

They just suspended one of my guys for four games because something that was prescribed for him had an NFL banned substance in it and he didn't clear it first with the team doctor & Ray Rice punched his now wife hard enough to knock her unconscious and he got a two game suspension.

Ray Rice is a star player.

...and I'd just like to add that the same guy who suspended Ray Rice for two games once suspended a player for an entire season for using pot.

(07-24-2014, 09:53 PM)Duchess Wrote: ...and I'd just like to add that the same guy who suspended Ray Rice for two games once suspended a player for an entire season for using pot.

Who decides how a player who gets arrested or otherwise busted is to be penalized within the NFL? Is it the team coach, team owner, the league commissioner, some committee?

I'm finding the politics and behind-the-scenes of pro football interesting.

Thanks to you and Cutz for answering my questions.

(07-24-2014, 11:22 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote:

(07-24-2014, 09:53 PM)Duchess Wrote: ...and I'd just like to add that the same guy who suspended Ray Rice for two games once suspended a player for an entire season for using pot.

Who decides how a player who gets arrested or otherwise busted is to be penalized within the NFL? Is it the team coach, team owner, the league commissioner, some committee?

I'm finding the politics and behind-the-scenes of pro football interesting.

Thanks to you and Cutz for answering my questions.

Basically it's some committee. The commish has power to override I think, but he doesn't deal with every incident. If it were up to teams, they'd all be suspending players for 1 play.

There are some really pissed off people who are viewing this two game suspension as nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Roger Goodell is being paid roughly 44 million dollars a year to make decisions a monkey could make.

Ray Rice's now wife actually came out and did a mea culpa. What the fuck is wrong with her. Jesus. He knocked her out cold, kicked her body and was caught red handed by security dragging her body out of the elevator. I have no respect for her as a woman, she's nothing more than a goddamn enabler. Whatever compassion I had for her is gone.

I used to really like the Raven's coach and now I think he's a dick too for his comments in support of Ray - "I think he's a heck of a guy". Fuck you.

What Ray Rice did was a terrible assault on a vulnerable and convenient target.

I don't care what he ever does from here on out, I consider him a dangerous woman-beating asshole.

His wife is fucked in the head, IMO. But, I just betchya he's on his best behavior, for now. He needed her badly after that video broke. Really badly. I imagine that Rice would have gotten more than only a 2 game suspension and a fine if she'd broken off the engagement, filed charges, and he was going to trial for felony domestic assault.

If so, then the tables were turned and she was in a power position over him when she did her mea culpa. Aside from being an enabler and a punching bag, maybe she's gullible and she thinks she can change him because he was "good" to her when he needed her. (Hell, maybe she's only in it for the money or has a masochistic love for him, for all I know.)

In any case, I hope she's safe -- but I doubt it. Now that he's snug in his position, when the heat dies down, he'll probably go back to his old ways -- like most cowardly woman-beaters do.

The NFL should probably work on their standards (that is highly doubtful). I have a problem with pot & male fertility drugs being viewed as worse than assaulting a person and I know I'm not alone in this position.

(07-25-2014, 02:22 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: I just betchya he's on his best behavior, for now.

He is. I saw some sports news out of Baltimore earlier and it was filled with women talking about his two game suspension. Every comment from those females was in support of him. I don't know if this particular news broadcast edited so it was all good for him or if every random woman they stopped truly was behind him 100%.

Who is this Stephen Smith windbag?

Does he normally have any credibility as a sports commentator?

Ah well, he's gotta be better at that than he would be as a criminal lawyer; I'll give him that much.

Shit, this one's from just yesterday and Smith is really an idiot, IMO.

He's telling women not to provoke men into hitting them.



This guy doesn't know when to shut up.

Oh dear. Heh. He's a commentator for ESPN. I'm going to bet ESPN isn't very happy right now. The NFL tends to forget there are a shit ton of female fans, I don't see ESPN doing that.

I can't speak to his credibility. All the commentators remind me of politicians on the stump.

First, I'll just comment that PEDs are considered cheating, and therefor pretty much an automatic 4 game, 25% of the season, suspension. If you're caught cheating to help you team, you get suspended to hurt your team. Off the field conduct is more of a gray area. There's more leeway in terms of punishment. In Goodell's defense, he met with both Ray Rice and Janay to discuss the incident.

As far as I know, the public isn't aware of the details. All we saw is the aftermath. Ray Rice drags his fiancee out of an elevator. If reports had come out that she was passed out drunk... there would have been no media circus about it. From my standpoint, I know that this girl has tied her ship to this football player, and doesn't want him losing his paycheck. So if you're meeting with his boss, I'd think she and Ray would spin whatever story possible regardless of the truth to Goodell. If they said she'd been drinking and passed out, if they said they had a sex accident, if she said she slipped and knocked herself out... up to an including that she attacked him, and he was defending himself. No matter the moral uproar, if she sat there and told Goodell that it was her fault... a 2 game suspension is still a warning. It says "don't fuck around with domestic violence," without really painting Rice as a criminal. So that's how I feel from Goodell's perspective.

From an objective standpoint, I want to know the details. I want to know if the girl attacked him or if he just knocked her out while they were arguing. If it's the later, he's a PoS and shoulda been arrested and she shoulda pressed charges. If it's the former... I don't condone hitting a woman ever, but there is a huge bias that men are the bad guy in every domestic dispute. Another poster in another thread in another forum commenting on this case referenced Men Don't Tell... a movie about a man who is violently abused by his wife and gets arrested for attempted murder. Apparently it's based on a true story... so who knows, but at what point does self defense turn into assault? Women should never hit men either.

I don't think men are the bad guys in every domestic abuse case (or custody case or divorce case), but, yeah, that does seem to be an automatic assumption by a lot of people.

There are women who batter men too and, yep, it's under-reported largely due to embarrassment and stigma on the male. I know this to be true -- it's way less common than male-initiated intimate partner abuse, but it happens.

I've read up on the Rice incident. Both parties were arrested. The police report indicates that each hit the other (but doesn't indicate who hit who first, though that doesn't matter much to me). Both refused medical attention and were released from jail after being charged with simple domestic assault. Neither wanted to press charges against the other.

So, here's my take. No matter what else happened, it's undisputed that this football player knocked out his fiancee (she didn't pass out because she was drunk; witnesses reported the physical altercation). We then see him drag her outta the elevator.



To me, there's no justification for him to knock her unconscious. I don't think anyone has to knock out a person whom they claim to love in order to contain a situation (whether it's Big Bertha cold-cocking Beanpole Bill or Ray Rice flattening his fiancee) unless that loved one has a weapon or can't be restrained. I personally can't believe that she presented great physical harm to him and Ray Rice couldn't have restrained her without knocking her out cold in an act of self defense. So, I think the dude's an asshole and don't know whether she's a violent asshole too.

Anyway, he wasn't convicted and the league has handled it as they see fit, so on with the show. I just hope this woman is not being bounced around by Rice and doesn't end up in the hospital or dead -- that's all.