|
 Appeals officer Ted Cottrell reduced the discipline to a $70,000
fine, the National Football League (NFL) announced on Tuesday.
Suh on Monday was suspended by the league for one game for violating
safety-related playing rules prohibiting unnecessary roughness.
But he appealed the penalty, handed down for stepping on the left
leg of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers during the fourth
quarter of Sunday's regular season finale.
With Rodgers in a defenseless posture, Suh backed up and stepped on
the quarterback's leg with his right foot before repeating the move
with his left foot in a display of "unnecessary roughness", the NFL
said in a statement on Monday.
 "You did not respond in the manner of someone who had lost his
balance and accidentally contacted another player who was lying on
the ground," Merton Hanks, the NFL's vice president of football
operations, said.
"This illegal contact, specifically the second step and push off
with your left foot, clearly could have been avoided."
Suh has a long history of player-safety violations.
[to top of second column] |
Cottrell is jointly appointed by the NFL and NFL Players Association
to hear and decide appeals for on-field player discipline.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Mark
Lamport-Stokes)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
