Pittsburgh Steelers safety Damontae Kazee has been suspended without pay for the remainder of the regular season and any potential postseason games – for repeated violations of rules intended to protect the health and safety of players, the NFL announced Monday, CNN reports.
In the second quarter of Pittsburgh’s Week 15 road loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Damontae Kazee launched himself at the head of Michael Pittman Jr., who was diving to try to make a catch.
Jon Runyan, NFL Vice President of Football Operations, issued Kazee’s suspension for the violation of a rule which states that it’s a foul if a player “forcibly hits the defenseless player’s head or neck area with the helmet, facemask, forearm, or shoulder, even if the initial contact is lower than the player’s neck, and regardless of whether the defensive player also uses his arms to tackle the defenseless player by encircling or grasping him.”
In a letter to Damontae Kazee, Runyan wrote: “When players violate the rules intended to protect player safety on a repeated basis, and particularly when the violations carry with them a significant risk of injury to an opposing player, it is appropriate to impose substantially greater penalties.”
Kazee will be suspended for the Steelers’ remaining regular season games against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens.
Damontae Kazee can appeal the suspension under the current collective bargaining agreement.
In response to Kazee’s suspension, seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady said the Steelers safety wasn’t entirely to blame for the incident, implying it was also the fault of Colts quarterback Gardner Minshew.
“Nobody likes seeing players get hurt. But hard hits happen,” he wrote as a reply on Instagram. “QBs should not be throwing the ball in areas where they are exposing their own teammates to these types of hits.
“Coaches need to coach better, QBs needs to read coverages and throw the ball to the right places and defenders should aim for the right hitting areas. To put the blame on the defense player all the time is just flat out wrong.
“Need better QB play!! It’s not OK QBs to get your WRs hit because of your bad decisions!”
The Steelers went on to lose the game, 30-13, to the Colts, who shut Pittsburgh out after going down 0-13 behind a strong defensive effort, which picked off Mitch Trubisky twice and held the visitors to 216 total yards of offense, and Gardner Minshew’s strong and steady play at quarterback – throwing for 215 yards and three touchdowns.