Seymour fined $25k; no suspension

[lillloyd]

To me, it's irrelevant when the infraction in question occurred in the game. The crime still happened. I doubt it's going to matter what quarter James Harrison commits a helmet-to-helmet penalty in. If he does it, he's likely going to get suspended regardless. Same should have happened with Seymour.

But, then again, one can make the argument that Seymour is a first time offender as well.

This isn't actually true. I think Seymour was a model citizen in NE, probably due to the strength of the organization, but without that same structure in Oakland he's been a bit of a hothead, at least on the field. This is his 3rd fine in the past two years.

Seymour was fined twice last season by the league for illegal hits, including a $7,500 fine for pulling the hair of Denver Broncos lineman Ryan Clady, and a $10,000 fine for a hit after a play against Cleveland​

Richard Seymour: Fined $25k, but Not Suspended for Striking Ben Roethlisberger | Bleacher Report

IMO the fines for this sort of thing should at least be on par for the between-the-whistle stuff. Leave the Harrison stuff out of it for the sake of the argument; how does Dunta Robinson feel after this, when the league basically told him his hit couldn't be avoided but he'd be fined $50K anyway? The league doesn't seem to have any sort of overarching oversight of how the fines and in-game penalties are being applied, and it shows.

 

[jmt57]

Regardless of how one feels about Harrison, Roethlisberger, Seymour and others, I do agree that the disparity in discipline is often a head scratcher. A good example would be a player being caught with a joint will get suspended for a game (and lose that game check), but a player ending another player's season - or career - with a cheap shot will get a fine that works out to less than what he makes in one quarter of his next game.