Detroit Lions safety Mark Carrier was suspended by the NFL for Thursday’s game against the Bears and fined an additional $50,000 because of his helmet-to-helmet hit that knocked Packers receiver Antonio Freeman out of Sunday’s game with a concussion.
The NFL announced the punishment Monday night. Carrier’s history and the determination of the league to make an example of such tactics will cost the former Bear his second game check in two years.
Carrier was not penalized for nailing Freeman, but he wasn’t penalized last season for a hit against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Brice Hunter that resulted in a suspension for one game, also against the Bears. At that time, Carrier was told by the league that he was suspended because of previous incidents and fines. He has been cited four times in the last three years.
After the Packers game, Carrier said he saw no reason for alarm.
“I don’t understand it,” he said. “It’s a football game.”
Freeman was running a deep route up the sideline in front of cornerback Terry Fair when Brett Favre’s pass hit the back of Fair’s helmet. Carrier drilled Freeman as the ball fell to the ground.
“The ball hit the back of Terry’s helmet and (Freeman) was like he was trying to get to the ball, and I didn’t want him to get to the ball,” Carrier said. “There’s a rule if the ball gets tipped, everybody’s free game.”
Carrier and Lions coach Bobby Ross said Carrier’s status was the least of their worries after the loss to the Packers. But Ross was lamenting his poor pass defense even before he watched Bears receivers Marcus Robinson and Bobby Engram light up the San Diego Chargers.
Cornerback Bryant Westbrook left Sunday’s game with a pulled left hamstring after missing five games with a pulled right hamstring. Cornerback Kevin Abrams missed the game with a toe injury, and Fair was victimized on two interference penalties to spark the Packers’ third-quarter comeback.
“We can’t line up and play the long ball right now,” Ross said.
With Carrier also out of Thursday’s game, Ross may have to worry about a serious mismatch against the Bears’ receivers.
Backup cornerback Lamar Campbell also is nursing a sore shoulder and was pressed into service after entering the Packers game listed as doubtful. The Lions were lining up with journeymen Robert Bailey and J.B. Brown at the corners. Carrier’s replacement will be Corwin Brown, a seven-year veteran from Michigan and Chicago’s Julian High School.
Carrier’s hit, replayed many times on TV, was exactly the kind of “spearing” against a basically defenseless player that the league is stressing as illegal. Favre said the official closest to the play told him he didn’t see it. Packers fullback William Henderson called it “as cheap as you can get.”
Batch practices: Charlie Batch, who has missed the Lions’ last two games with a thumb injury, shared practice time Monday with Gus Frerotte, but the Lions did not announce who will start at quarterback against the Bears.
The Edgerrin: Colts running back Edgerrin James became the youngest player to gain 1,000 yards rushing–21 years 2 months 20 days. He beat Barry Sanders by 18 days. Thirty-six NFL rookies have reached 1,000 yards, starting with the Bears’ Beattie Feathers in 1934.
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James has racked up 787 total yards from scrimmage (rushing and receiving) in his last four games–209, 199, 180, 199. Until Sunday, he was the only running back on the Colts to carry the ball all season. Keith Elias got a carry in the blowout against Philadelphia.
The Colts are a no-nonsense team. They have jumped to their 8-2 record while suspending three players for violating unspecified team policy. Linebacker Andre Royal was suspended in Week 5 and subsequently released. Defensive end Shawn King and safety Tito Wooten were suspended before Sunday’s win.
Cereal wars: You can gauge the success of NFL players these days by the cereal they sell. Kurt Warner, making it big in St. Louis, will introduce Warner’s Crunch Time cereal, his own frosted corn flakes expected on the shelves in St. Louis and in Iowa, Warner’s home state, in time for Christmas.
A portion of the profits from each box will benefit Camp Barnabas, a Christian summer camp for special-needs youth in southwest Missouri.
“It’s going to a good cause, and that’s the reason I’m doing it,” Warner said. “I hope everybody out there understands that–that it’s not for any kind of publicity or to gain any kind of recognition.”
But Warner did admit, “I love frosted flakes.”
Sports marketing is pushing the latest “breakfasts of champions” with part of the proceeds going to charity.
Buffalo quarterback Doug Flutie has Flutie Flakes. Randy Moss’ Magical Crunch is named after the Minnesota wide receiver. Arizona quarterback Jake Plummer has Jake’s Flakes. Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning has a honey-nut toasted cereal named Peyton’s O’s.