According to reports, the Detroit Lions are expecting center Dominic Raiola to be suspended for the season finale against the Green Bay Packers next week after stomping on Bears defensive tackle Ego Ferguson.
The NFL is considering discipline for Lions center Dominic Raiola after he stepped on Bears defensive tackle Ego Ferguson during Sunday’s 20-14 Detroit win and the team reportedly expects the league to hand down a one-game suspension.
Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports reports that the Lions have told Raiola to expect the one-game ban, which would leave him on the sideline as the face the Packers for the NFC North title in Week 17. Raiola could appeal any suspension and that appeal would likely be expedited so it happened before that game.
Lions coach Jim Caldwell said Monday that the team was prepared for the possibility that Raiola would be suspended while adding that he believes the center’s claim that he inadvertently stepped on Ferguson.
“Obviously I took a good look at [the play],” Caldwell said, via the Detroit Free Press. “Looked at both the coach’s copy and also the television copy as well, and I believe what Dom told me, that it was inadvertent. But I can also see why it obviously is being reviewed by the league and everybody’s taking a real good look at it because you can also see the other side of that as well. There’s a league protocol to it. It’ll be reviewed, taken a look at and we’ll deal with the issues after there’s been some determination there.”
Here’s the video of the stomp if you haven’t seen it yet.
Dominic Raiola is making his teammate Ndamukong Suh look like a saint after this most recent incident. I’ve heard stories about Raiola dating back to his college days, so him doing this kind of thing isn’t out of character. As a former offensive lineman myself, I know it gets filthy in the trenches, but there is no place in the game for things like that. When you purposely go out of your way to hurt someone the way Raiola did, you have to be held accountable.