Oakland Raiders defensive star Vontaze Burfict got himself into some trouble on Sunday after a vicious hit on Jack Doyle of the Indianapolis Colts. Immediately following the hit, Burfict was kicked out of the game and pundits were already speculating about the length of a suspension. In the end, the NFL decided to drop the gavel as they banned him for the remainder of the season. Losing Burfict is a huge blow for the Raiders and as you can imagine, they're in the midst of appealing the decision.
According to TMZ, Derek Carr and Jon Gruden spoke to the media about the suspension and they're not too happy about it. Carr went on a pretty lengthy rant about the decision where he called Burfict "misunderstood."
Per Carr:
"We see other people choking people out, and they're going to play this Sunday. We see other people hitting people in the helmet, and they're going to play this Sunday. And Vontaze Burfict won't play the rest of the year? I think that's a little excessive, if you ask me. I don't think it's fair, if we really got to know the guy. If the people making the decision really knew the guy that we know, inside our building ... he's a great person, his heart is broken because he's not playing football. The guy just wants to play football. We don't get a lot of time to play this game in our lives."
As for Gruden, he doesn't want to speak too much on it as he doesn't want to get himself in trouble. However, the Raiders head coach made sure to voice his displeasure in a diplomatic way.
We'll be sure to update you on what the NFL decides following the appeal.
