The Steelers played some pretty great football in their 35-3 dismantling of the Oakland Raiders. Unfortunately, it's being overshadowed in the press by a nasty cheap shot (video) on Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger by defensive end Richard Seymour, who was ejected from the game shortly thereafter.
Outside linebacker James Harrison was asked if he thought the league should suspend Seymour, in addition to a presumed six-figure fine:
"I don't see why not. This [Roethlisberger]'s celebrating with his teammates and you punch him in his face."
Harrison also made sure to distance his own aggressive style of play, which drew fines from the NFL earlier in the season, from Seymour's after-the-whistle thuggery:
"I hope he would hear from the league a lot worse than what I did. I'm playing the game within the whistles. What he did was way outside of it."
I suppose the argument against suspending Seymour is that he already missed half of a football game due to his ejection. Add a full game's absence to that, in addition to a presumably hefty fine, and I guess some folks (read: Raiders fans) could say that's overkill. What's more, Seymour has already apologized...to his teammates:
"I apologize to my teammates. I never want to do anything to hurt the team...there's no excuse...I'm not sure why [Roethlisberger] ran up on me. I just turned around and it was a natural reaction."
So there you have it. I'm not sure what "running up on someone" really means, but if it's what Roethlisberger appeared to do in the video above - basically brush up against Seymour en route to celebrating his touchdown strike to Emmanuel Sanders - I'm certain that doesn't warrant punching someone in the kisser. The NFL should suspend this guy, for sure.
Either way, if you ever find yourself in line behind Richard Seymour at the grocery store, do yourself a favor and give that man his space. If you don't watch yourself, he might have a "natural reaction" and knock your block off.