CLEVELAND — While there was plenty of good and a little bit of bad in the Cleveland Browns’ 40-25 victory over the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore Sunday, there also was some ugly, specifically in the third quarter.
On first-and-20 from the Baltimore 48-yard line, quarterback Baker Mayfield completed a 19-yard pass to running back Dontrell Hilliard, but as the ball carrier headed up the field, a melee ensued between several Browns and Ravens players.
The most egregious part of the incident occurred when wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. appeared throw a punch and Humphrey wrestled him down to the field, but the Ravens defender was far from finished. With Beckham Jr. flat against the ground, Humphrey appeared to choke Beckham Jr. for several seconds.
It was only after wide receiver Jarvis Landry pulled Humphrey off of Beckham Jr. that the incident simmered down, but not before Mayfield confronted a couple Ravens players and more personal foul unnecessary roughness penalties were called.
Following the game, referee Shawn Hochuli addressed the incident with a pool reporter from The Baltimore Sun.
“The answer is we didn’t see anything on the field that rose to the level of a disqualifying foul,” Hochuli said after refusing to say what he did see on the play. “When New York looked at it, they didn’t see anything either that rose to the level of a disqualifying foul.”
Well, if that play was in fact reviewed by league officials and “they didn’t see anything” that warranted an ejection, two things need to happen.
One, the NFL rule book needs to be amended to include choking an opposing player on the list of egregious actions “that rise to the level of a disqualifying foul.”
Two, officials need to be put under stricter review, and not just the on-field ones either. Those in the NFL’s New York office need to take accountability, too, for what happens on the field. Every phone in the stadium is a camera and there are plenty of high-definition television cameras on the field during a regular-season game that makes missing a play like Humphrey’s inexcusable.
Before the NFL makes any changes, they need to make a ruling on this case, and there is no doubt Humphrey should be suspended for at least one game in addition to paying a hefty fine for his actions against Beckham Jr., who himself was not innocent in the matter either.
Beckham Jr. should be fined if he did in fact throw a punch, but the response from Humphrey was over the top.
Understandably, football is a passionate game played by fiery individuals, but watching grown men acting reckless and knowingly endangering an opposing player in an action that likely would get the offending party a free car ride to the local police station if it happened on the street should not be the standard the league wants for its 100th season.
Not that the NCAA is perfect by any means, but several years ago, when Ohio State linebacker Robert Reynolds choked Wisconsin quarterback Jim Sorgi after a play, he was suspended for a game.
Perhaps, the NFL should adopt a similar mindset when watching this play over again during the week.