After the Dolphins beat the Broncos on Sunday, loquacious Miami linebacker Joey Porter called Brandon Marshall a soft player who mopes and cries when he doesn't get the ball. It was hardly the first time that Porter has spoken his mind.
His Marshall comments didn't cost him any money, at least. When he criticized Ed Hochuli's officiating after the Dolphins lost to Houston, J. Peezy found himself $20,000 lighter in the wallet. That fine was still on his mind today while he discussed another wide receiver, Matt Jones of the Jaguars, and the league's crackdown on fines for big hits.
"If I knew the answers, I'd still have 20 more thousand dollars. But I'm still trying to figure out how a guy gets caught with cocaine in his car and still plays the game and nothing happens.He got caught with cocaine and Matt Jones is still playing football. How does he get away with that? And then you fine people $20,000 for making comments to the media about the refs. The guy got caught with cocaine."
Most of the time Porter opens his mouth, he says something foolish. But, like a broken clock twice a day, he's right on the money.
Jones plea bargained his way into a drug treatment program after getting caught cutting up cocaine in his car this summer. The league suspended him three games, but Jones appealed and has been playing the entire season. What's the holdup on the appeal?
It would be a fine question for Roger Goodell to answer. Perhaps Jones had a DVD that exonerated him. As a non-Patriot, though, he's probably not that adept at the videotaping.
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Goodell's certainly never going to explain why two similar hits in two similar games are penalized, if they're both penalized, in two completely different ways, perhaps he could see his way clear to sort out this issue. The league was able to fine Eric Smith of the Jets $50,000, suspend him and hear the appeal in much less time than its taken for them to punish a player who pled guilty to charges involving a drug banned by the league.
I'm not sure how comfortable I am when Joey Porter is the voice of reason on a topic, but I applaud his work in pointing out the NFL's hypocrisy.
Joey Porter's Talking Again, Matt Jones and Roger Goodell Are Wearing Bullseyes originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:35:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
