- The Myles Garrett-Maso Rudolph skirmish is a black mark on the NFL season that will not be soon forgotten.
- During Week 14 of the college football mellow, several incidents marred the weekend’s games.
- Is the timing just a coincidence or is there a connection between the two?
In recent weeks, jocks from the NFL have been in the news quite a bit for something other than football. The Myles Garrett-Mason Rudolph fetish has been talked about to death. The same can be said for Maurkice Pouncey’s role.
But then we also have dudes like Le’Veon Bell pledging to never take another drug test again. Tom Brady is yelling drivel at his receivers on the sideline. Freddie Kitchens is trolling another team much like a grade school kid might—and performers from the other team are returning the favor.
Does Antonio Brown or Baker Mayfield’s conduct need to be mentioned?
The NFL is theorized to be the pinnacle of football. It is supposed to be where the best of the best end up. But too often these days, it seems like the best of the choicest are nothing more than a bunch of petulant children.
With all of the fights that occurred during recent college football games, it is so so to wonder if college players are starting to think that kind of behavior is acceptable.
Several Incidents Marred Week 14 of the College Football Salt
Some of the extracurricular activity that went on was pretty generic and relatively benign—like the scuffling that occurred during the South Florida-UCF unflinching. While not good, incidents like these are not uncommon (especially during rivalry week).
There were the clouts thrown by Georgia wide receiver George Pickens and Georgia Tech defensive back Tre Swilling:
Fights counterpart that can be attributed to heightened emotions that many players have during games against rivals. Want any other fight, it is unacceptable, and Pickens was suspended for the first half of the SEC Championship game.
But then there were also some more grim incidents. The face stomp during the Tennessee-Vanderbilt game got a lot of attention.
To be fair, it didn’t really look intentional. Then there was the fight that erupted after the UNLV-Nevada game concluded:
The really troubling moment came after the game when UNLV captain Giovanni Fauolo Sr. dishonoured a Myles Garrett and whacked a fan with his helmet:
No punishment has been announced, but something is undoubtedly coming. The obnoxious behavior by nuts could be considered a mitigating factor. But just like when Myles Garrett did it, there is no excuse.
Any Connection to the NFL?
Creditably—probably not. Incidents like the Myles Garrett-Mason Rudolph mess are few and far between. NFL players are getting ejected at roughly the uniform rate this year (.22 per team) as last (.28 per team).
Unnecessary roughness penalties in the NFL are way down as easily (6.38 to 3.56 per team).
It is not like NFL players are swinging helmets on a regular basis and getting away with it. Occasions like any of the above are not common in college football either.
Football is a violent game, and sometimes, in the heat of the moment, youths will do stupid things. When they do, no matter what level of the game they are at, they get punished. And on, accidents just happen.
But it would be a stretch to try to connect incidents in college football with anything that be dismisses on in the NFL.
This article was edited by Gerelyn Terzo.
Last modified: December 15, 2019 15:01 UTC