The Ravens will be without their star free safety in Sunday’s matchup with San Diego.
The NFL announced that they have suspended Ed Reed for one game without pay for repeated violations of the NFL’s player-safety rules regarding hits on defenseless receivers. Reed was flagged for a hit to Steelers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders‘ head and neck on Sunday night. The NFL said it was Reed’s third instance of violating the player-safety rule, which included a hit to Deion Branch in Week 3 of this season and another to Drew Brees in 2010.
This is the second time the NFL has suspended a player for illegal hits this season. Broncos linebacker Joe Mays missed one game for a hit on Matt Schaub that nicked a piece of the Texans’ quarterback’s ear off. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh did not agree with the league’s ruling, saying that he thought all three hits were inadvertent. Even Sanders’ teammate, safety Ryan Clark, tweeted words of support for Reed:
Tough on Ed getting suspended. I can’t say that I agree w that. It was a penalty but I don’t believe he was intentionally trying to harm E.
— ryan clark (@RealRClark25) November 19, 2012
Of course, Clark is known as one of the biggest head hunters in the NFL, so perhaps he was just trying to sway the league for issuing these suspensions in the future. Reed will lose $423,529 of his 2012 salary as part of the suspension. The Ravens announced that Reed will appeal the suspension. There will be an expedited hearing this week that will decide whether the suspension will be upheld by Wednesday, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
