Last week Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs appeared on a sports radio show where he admitted to the two hosts that the Ravens had a “bounty” on two Pittsburgh Steelers players, rookie running back Rashard Mendenhall and All-Pro receiver Hines Ward. In a recent Monday night Ravens-Steelers game, Mendenhall suffered a fractured left shoulder and will miss the rest of the season. He was injured in the game and required surgery. Ward escaped the game unscathed.
The NFL responded to the talk of a bounty by writing a terse letter to Suggs stating that talk of bounties will not be tolerated and if it happens again, he will face “significant disciplinary action.” Whatever that means.
Maybe the NFL missed the point that the bounty existed with the whole Ravens team. Sending a letter only to Suggs doesn’t really take of the problem. It makes it look as though the real egregious act was not the bounty itself, but talking about it on a radio show.
The NFL has a thuggery problem. Not that this should be news to anyone. What I find to be surprising is how anemic the NFL seems to be at taking care of the problem.
They aren’t going to fix the problem by writing letters.
