Reed suspension reduced to a fine

[flippy]

Ed Reed knows how hard James Harrison hits. I think James embarrassed him on the one punt return a few years back.

[Steel Life]

I'm sorry but this whole thing about Reed being "a good guy" or "not that kind of player" is BS & has nothing to do with his actions & that in each case he INTENDED to do what he did & that is what the league is trying to prohibit - intentional hits to the head. On both the Sanders & Branch hits he has time to decide to make a legitimate tackle but DECIDES to go high & that's what this should be based on. Sanders DOES NOT dramatically drop his head into Reed's hitting plane & to put the onus for either the Sanders or Branch's hit - which is indefensible - on the WRs is just searching for a rationalization to protect Reed. What is clear is that Reed, who is quickly becoming a shadow of his former self with shoulder & neck injuries, no longer goes for the secure tackle but instead tries to over compensate by attempting to blow WRs up & the best way to do that is go high.

All that said, I never agreed with the loss of a game check but a substantial fine & a suspension were certainly warranted & it could be argued that the suspension would've been more effective in curtailing the kind of hits the NFL wants to see weeded out.

[flippy]

Instead of fining or suspending a player, how about the guy who gives another guy a concussion is responsible for his future medical bills. If a bunch of guys concuss the same guy, then they split the future medical bills.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

How 'bout the league drops its arbitrary, capricious manner of penalizing players and instead invests some money into better helmets?

[Terrible Towlie]

How 'bout the league drops its arbitrary, capricious manner of penalizing players and instead invests some money into better helmets?

Exactly. The NFL says that it's #1 concern is the health and safety of the players, but they don't require the players to wear the newer helmets developed that protect the head better. If there is a helmet (and there is) that lessens the impact to the head during contact, it should be mandatory that those are the helmets used.