Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich was in agreement with the season-long suspension the league handed down to Oakland Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict following his late hit on tight end Jack Doyle.
Reich believes that the suspension was appropriate given the context of the situation and was thankful that Doyle came out of the play without any problems or concussion symptoms.
“It was a pretty vicious hit,” Reich said to the media Monday. “Thankfully, he came out of that clean and no symptoms. I’m just thankful the league took the action it did and I support the league in the decision. When someone does something like that and attacks one of your players, that’s just not supposed to be in the game. Then when it’s against one of your players, you naturally have a reaction. I’m just glad they did what they did at the game, and the follow-up action seems very appropriate.”
Given his history of late hits and hits that would be considered dirty, the league was quick to hand down the season-long suspension—a reprimand that some believe isn’t long enough.
The Colts were lucky that Doyle came out of the hit without any injuries, but that is the exact situation the league is trying to avoid when it comes to helmet-to-helmet hits.
Sometimes it’s unavoidable. But in this instance it was avoidable, and Reich agreed with the suspension.
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