Browns’ Massaquoi Officially Out For Sunday’s Game

Added on Oct 24, 2010 by Jason Kearney in

NFL

Not much of a surprise, but Cleveland Browns receiver Mohamed Massaquoi has been officially ruled out of the team’s Sunday game against the New Orleans Saints. Massaquoi suffered a concussion after a nasty helmet to helmet hit from Pittsburgh Steelers’ linebacker James Harrison which was instrumental in setting off the NFL’s crackdown on violent play. Harrison also knocked Joshua Cribbs out of the game with a concussion, but he’s been upgraded to probable for Sunday’s action.

Harrison wasn’t penalized on either play, but eventually was fined $75,000 by the NFL. This caused Harrison to freak out and consider retirement though cooler heads (and no doubt the realization that he made $10 million a year playing football) eventually prevailed. The agent for Mohammed Massaquoi, Brian Ayrault, didn’t think the league came down on Harrison hard enough:

“Harrison has made $20 million over the past three years, and they only fined him $75,000?. To me, that’s not going to be a deterrent. The Browns are probably going to be without a starter this week. I don’t think that fine is a deterrent or fair to competitive balance.”

“The punishment did not fit the crime.”

The Steelers have rushed to defend their star linebacker and insist that Harrison is not a ‘dirty player’. Browns’ center Alex Mack thinks otherwise:

“If you watch the game film, [Harrison] was doing that to everyone on every play. People would be on the ground and he would try to spear them. There’s a play on film where [running back] Peyton Hillis is tackled and he comes up and spears him. It’s like you’re being cheap, you’re being dirty.”

The Browns will start rookie quarterback Colt McCoy again on Sunday, as neither Seneca Wallace or Jake Delhomme have fully recovered from their injuries.