Mike Tomlin Defends Mason Rudolph in N-Word Controversy

One of the most blatant fouls I’ve ever seen in a football game was this past season when Myles Garret of the Cleveland Browns cracked Mason Rudolph in the head with his own helmet. It seemed incredibly out of line and Garret was suspended for the rest of the season. But then Garret claimed he was reacting to Rudolph calling him the n-word, and everyone stopped and said “oh, yeah, I can see that, that totally makes sense.”

Everyone except for Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin, I guess. Tomlin went on ESPN radio and defended Rudolph, via SB Nation.

“These accusations are serious. Not only in terms of Mason Rudolph’s character, but his professional pursuits. Nobody on that field, as a member of the Cleveland Browns or the Pittsburgh Steelers corroborated what Myles Garrett said. That was founded by us and the National Football League.”

Tomlin went on to explain how the story concocted later by Garrett didn’t fit into how these situations usually transpire following an incident of this nature.

“I was on the field immediately after that altercation and subsequently after the game. I’ve got a lot of personal relationships within that organization over there in Cleveland. At no point did anyone within that organization come forward and say, ‘Mike, heads up, we’ve got a situation here,’ or something of that nature that you would expect that comes with those type of allegations.”

It’s true that we haven’t seen any corroboration of Garret’s claims, but his suspension was lifted by the NFL and ended up being pretty light because, I mean, come on. Look at the guy. Even The Onion got this one right.

If the Steelers has just signed Collin Kaepernick, none of this would have happened and they might have finished higher than 8-8. I’m just sayin’.