As I forget to mention in my last post, as I was disappointed with DeSean Jackson, I was by far, most disappointed with the lack of discipline by Eagles lineman, Trent Cole. As depicted in the bottom left of the picture, late in the fourth quarter, as Seattle was winding down the clock, left Tackle Russel Okung, Seattle's sixth overall pick two years ago continued his aggressive style of play against Trent Cole as he had been doing the whole game. Okung played until the whistle even though Cole was nowhere near the play. Angrily, clearly after the whistle, Cole flipped the 310 pound lineman who landed awkwardly on his hip.
Not only was a penalty not called for clear unsportsmanlike conduct, but Okung is now out for the year after tearing his pectoral, located in the shoulder, on the play. Seattle's main strategy for the past two years had been to build up the offensive line. Hence why they drafted Right Tackle James Carpenter (a projected second round pick) late in the first round this year. By doing so, they passed up on Andy Dalton, quietly having an impressive rookie season. Okung who has been plagued by injuries was finally healthy.
Okung, compliments of Trent Cole, will now join fellow rookie starters Right Guard James Moffitt and Right Tackle James Carpenter on the injured reserve. The Seahawks main goal this year was to build chemistry on the offensive line and get Marshawn Lynch going. After a terrible start, the offensive line had clicked and Lynch has been at a remarkable pace. If the Seahawks goals were to compete for the championship, they would not have signed Tarvaris Jackson. But, now they can only hope the chemistry will still be there next year as only the 25 year old center, Max Unger and Left Guard and veteran presence, Robert Gallery remain.
As for Trent Cole...Pete Carroll is calling for fines. But is that enough? Seattle rookie linebacker, K.J. Wright was fined $15,000 for apparently striking him in the neck, even though it appears like it was in the upper chest. Grossman was able to play the rest of the game. That is just one example. Nkadamakong Suh is currently serving a two-game suspension for stomping on a player. That player was able to play the rest of the game. What angers Pete Carroll as well as myself, is that no flag was called.
I am not a big fan of the fines for questionable late hits among other reasons. On the contrary, one of the major reasons why I like the NHL is because of the loose restrictions. Hits, Fights and other aggressive actions are apart of the sport. But, this is not hockey. The NFL has to enforce the rules it has. The NFL has to act like if Okung landed the wrong way and landed on his knee, (which along with a hamstring plagued him all last year) and his playing career ended because that was a possibility. As stated earlier, this isn't hockey. You can't fight someone and in hockey, if an injury occurs in hockey, it is all on the player. This injury did not occur during play and there was nothing illegal Okung did to deserve this.
In closing, Trent Cole has to be reprimanded simply because this is the NFL and in today's age when they are passing new rules seemingly everyday to protect its players, this is unexceptable. Trent Cole displayed no discipline and in my view, committed a penalty that was worse than anything Suh has ever done. Granted part of this is my Seahawks bias, but the NFL should take a deeper peek into this when reviewing the all questionable plays earlier on next week.
The injury takes at least six months to recover from, meaning Okung may not be ready for training camp if he suffers any setbacks.
No comments:
Post a Comment