Oakland Raiders duo Derek Carr and Jon Gruden condemn Vontaze Burfict ban
Burfict will miss Raiders' London game on Sunday against the Chicago Bears at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, live on Sky Sports Action
Wednesday 2 October 2019 17:28, UK
Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr and head coach Jon Gruden have both criticised the NFL's decision to suspend linebacker Vontaze Burfict for the rest of the 2019 season.
Burfict was ejected from Sunday's 31-24 victory over the Indianapolis Colts following a helmet-to-helmet collision with Jack Doyle in the second quarter. The Raiders have confirmed they will appeal the decision.
The suspension is the longest punishment ever handed out for on-field offences in the NFL and Burfict will subsequently miss Sunday's London game against the Chicago Bears at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which is live on Sky Sports Action.
Carr said: "He's one of the most genuine, awesome people I've ever been around, he's a great team-mate. I know that he's had history in other places but I think people change. I don't think he was trying to hurt that man [Jack Doyle].
"That man was going down. You see it all the time, there's flags flying everywhere. Obviously you're going to hit him a little higher than you expected.
"You know, we see other people choking people out and they're gonna play this Sunday and we see other people hitting people in the helmets and they're gonna 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 decisions really knew the guy that we know inside our building."
Burfict amassed more than $4m (£3.3m) in on-field conduct fines during a turbulent seven-year stretch with the Cincinnati Bengals from 2012-18.
He was suspended by the NFL to start both the 2016 and 2017 seasons for violation of player-safety policies, and again in 2018 for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing drugs.
Burfict has recorded 18 tackles in four games with the Raiders since signing a one-year, $5m (£4m) contract in March.
Gruden said: "Dr. Runyon [NFL vice president of football operations] in the league office, he knows how I feel, it hurts our team really bad.
"And I'm anxious to see what the appeal says, I'm not happy about it at all.I don't want to say anything else, I'm obviously upset about it."
This will be the Raiders' third visit to London and last season they lost 27-3 to the Seattle Seahawks at Wembley Stadium after arriving in the British capital on the Friday before a Sunday game, a decision coach Gruden admitted was wrong.
Contrite but fiery - Gruden leads his Raiders into the Bear pit
Sky Sports News reporter Richard Graves gives his thoughts from the Raiders' press conference...
He started with an apology.
"I made a mistake," Jon Gruden said in reference to last year's game in London against the Seahawks when Oakland arrived just 48 hours ahead of the game.
This is not what we have come to expect from the Raiders head coach but he claims to have learnt lessons from that trip and hopes we will see a reflection of that on Sunday against the Bears.
This time, the Raiders flew into town on Monday, and were greeted with the news that team captain, Vontaze Burfict, has been suspended for the season after an illegal helmet-to-helmet hit on a Colts player last weekend. That news prompted this response from Gruden.
"I am not happy about it at all. It hurts our team real bad... Vontaze Burfict is not here. The NFL decided to not let him play."
Quarterback Derek Carr gave his thoughts: "It'll affect us that he won't be out there. He's a captain.
"The hard thing for me to understand is that we say we're about people but we don't spend time to get to know people. He's one of the most misunderstood guys in the NFL."
Linebacker Tahir Whitehead met the media wearing a cap with Burfict's No 55 on it.
The strength of feeling in the Raiders camp on this issue is unmistakable, if not a little surprising for a player who has served multiple suspensions in his career, but it could also prove to be a rallying point for this team.
No one doubts the Chicago Bears defense is one of the best units in the NFL but this group feels one of their own has been unfairly treated - and perhaps Whitehead put it most succinctly.
"We can't worry about what they are doing," he said. "It's about us - 1 to 11. If they don't score, they don't win and if we have to score on defense, so be it."
Prepare for a battle royal between two of the league's most storied franchises this Sunday in London.
