Browns defensive tackle Gerard Warren set himself up for a possible league suspension when he threatened Thursday to deliver a forearm to Pittsburgh rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s throat.
So it was no surprise that Warren backtracked a little Friday. Warren didn’t apologize but said his menacing remarks in advance of Sunday’s Browns-Steelers clash at Cleveland Browns Stadium might have been taken “in the wrong sense.”
“That’s just me explaining how I approach football and the way I play it,” he said. “You’ve got to play the game on an all-out level. That’s what I’m talking about. You’re not out to hurt anybody, we’re all in this game to try to play for a long time. We’re not trying to injure anyone’s career.”
The league issued a statement Friday warning Warren.
The NFL “notified the Browns and Gerard Warren if a player commits a flagrant foul after having made such a statement, it may be a decisive factor supporting the suspension of the player,” the statement said.
On Thursday, Warren vowed to clock Roethlisberger–“go across his head”–and said he didn’t care if he drew a $50,000 fine. “That’s what we get paychecks for. You have to pay the cost to be the boss,” Warren said. He also said, “One rule they used to tell me, `Kill the head and the body’s dead.'”
With a 6-0 record as a starter that has tied the league’s record debut by a rookie quarterback, Roethlisberger didn’t seem worried about Warren. He wasn’t sacked by the Browns on Oct. 10 in the Steelers’ 34-23 victory.
“I have so much confidence in our offensive line,” Roethlisberger said. “If he gets to me once it’ll be a big shock to me.
“It takes a lot more than some talk to get into my head.”