Eric Smith Suspended One Game and Fined 50K for Helmet to Helmet on Boldin

That fine and punishment is a total joke. The commish comes out and says one thing and then does another. That hit should have warranted at least a one-year suspension and a fine approaching seven figures. It was very fortunate that the player hurt wasn't crippled for life.

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I agree the NFL needs more strict punishments for these situations. I think they should adopt a three-strike program.

The first strike should result in a fine of 75K and suspension for the length of the victimized player's injury, with a minimum of 2 games.

The second strike should result in a fine of 150K and suspension for the length of the victimized player's injury, with a minimum of 6 games.

The third strike should result in a 300K fine and suspension for the length of the victimized player's injury, with a minimum of the remainder of the season.

- Suspensions should include post-season games.
- Suspensions should not carry over into the next season.
- Strikes should not carry over into the next season.
- A player who accumulates 3 strikes in 2 consecutive seasons or 10 strikes in his career should be banned from the NFL.

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The idea about the suspension is a good one Brinson and I'll go one further. Make him sit out one game more than the guy he hit so that his team is hurt worse than the injured player's team.

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Fine....Suspension....B.S. Someone should take a sledge hammer to Smith's head and let him know just how much damage an ignorant uncalled for hit like that can cause. I'm neither a Jet nor Cardinal's fan; but that is just totally uncalled for. $50,000.00 is pocket change to some of these players. they need to learn true sportsmanship. Smith is an animal.

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The hit was a bad one i agree! Did anyone look at the video and see that Boldin was hit from behind and pushed into Smith? This is a contact sport things like that are going to happen. I hope and pray that Boldin is ok but lets not throw Smith into the pits of hell for playing the game!

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For starters, I want to say that I admire Anquan Boldin. He is an excellent player, and from the looks of the worry between the Jets, Cardinals, and the rest of the NFL community, is a great person and friend. I thank god that he is alright, and I hope that no further head trauma will be found in the next couple of days.

However, the claims made here are completely rediculous. The video that is shown is first shown in real-time, then later in slow-motion. Make sure you know which is which, because the real-time footage seems too fast to be humanly.

Boldin caught the ball in the endzone, the least desirable place for him to catch the football for the Jets. The defenders do what they are supposed to do, they tackle. They are lined up perfectly in a line, Boldin blocking the view of the other defender for each defender. Rhodes tackled Boldin. Smith, right before the Rhodes tackle, looks to be aiming for Boldin's numbers, the chest. However, Bolding was mid-air when he caught this, and gravity was pulling him back down. Boldin's mental physics calculations looked right, his helmet would have met Boldin's chest. But Rhodes, unseen by Smith, tackled Boldin on the upper portion of his body. This made Boldin come to ground faster and forced head to look down, putting his helmet a lot closer to where his chest was. And Smith hits Boldin's helmet, gets fined, suspended, and looked down upon.

In real-time, from Rhode's hit to Smith's hit is about .5 seconds. The human muscle reaction time is .25 seconds. So even if Smith saw Rhode's tackle, he would have had about .25 seconds to somehow defy gravity by pausing his dive and force his massive body to another direction.

This is unfair to Smith, he was just doing his job.

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No Fun League, I remember the huge hits back in the day. Everyone is fine and it made football better to watch, technology has improved why can't they made the pads safer with a better impact reaction.

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If you look close at the hit, the player got hit first from behind and lowered his hemet into smith's. You play until the whistle blows. I don't think it was done in a malicious fashion. He was trying to jar the ball loose. Most of you guys have never played the sport, but those who have know what is in store when you go up for a pass. You EXPECT to get hit. Go play checkers if you can't stand it.

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Ive played the game and true its brutal but that hit was not right ,especially when youve been told what is allowed a what is not. i love a good hit, and it can be done without doing what he done. I recieved a neck injury from football so i know first hand and it was part of the game. But that was clearly some bull on his part. It couldnt have been my team member of mine. I would still be whoopin on his tail feathers. Remember its still a sport and its not CHECKERS.

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When one player injures another player with an illegial action/hit and the injured player must leave the game, then the player commiting the illegal action/hit should be suspended, without pay, until the injured player is able to return to play. One play or one year, or whatever, the player inflicting the illegial action/hit is out until the injured player can play again. In addition, a minimum fine of $50,000.00 should be levied against the offending player. Hit these cheap shot artists where it hurts: in the pocketbook with suspensions and fines. Way to go AOL!

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The player who should have been suspended was Warner for trying to throw a meaningless TD with 14 seconds left to pad his stats, when all the receivers know that those are the situations when the D backs can take a 'free' shot. And after they cart Boldin off the field, Warner does it AGAIN!

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I DODNT KNOW WHAT THE NFL SAW,BUT IF YOU LOOK AT THE PLAY,YOU WILL SEE THAT BOTH DEFENDERS HIT BOLWIN IN THE HEAD,THEY BOOTH SHOULD BE OUT FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON WITHOUT PAY.3

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It's easy to blame Smith when you're seeing the play from the camera's perspective. Since we all saw Rhodes and Smith, a lot of you are unfairly expecting Smith to have seen everything that Rhodes was doing. But why don't those of you who are blaming Smith even after what was said in post #5 try to look at the situation from the perspective that Smith saw it from? Boldin was in the air to catch a ball and hadn't even returned to the ground by the time he was hit by both players.

I saw exactly what post #5 stated, hence the reason I even found this thread to post a comment. I agree that intentional helmet-to-helmet hits should be punished with at least a 2 week suspension (or even longer), but that was without a doubt a completely NOT intentional hit, in my opinion. If anybody should be suspended, it should be Rhodes. After all Rhodes made a helmet-to-helmet hit on Boldin FIRST. Worse yet, it was done to the back of the head, which is far more dangerous than a hit to the front of the head. Secondly, if Rhodes had hit Boldin a little lower, Boldin might have had a better chance at keeping his body in a vertical position, which would have definitely resulted in Smith hitting him exactly where he obviously tried to hit him - in the chest.

Those of you hell-bent on blaming Smith anyway...try jumping straight up (even better if you do it on a trampoline), then have somebody push you in the back of your head while you are at the top of your jump. What happens? The top of your body comes back down faster than the bottom. You can try to maintain your balance all you want, but you'll probably still land on your chest. Now do the same thing, but have the other person push you in the upper back. I bet it will be at least a little easier for you to stay upright.

Smith had no way of knowing in the amount of time that his teammate would hit Boldin in the back of the head or that it would cause Boldin's head to come down so quickly and collide with his own head.

There is no justice at all in the NFL if they don't look just a little closer at what happened here and overturn the suspension.

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The fine should be lifte. When watching the clip, Smith was aiming directly for his chest. Than the other tackler hit his upper back, causing him to fall, and in the process, leaning Boldins head into Smiths. Complete bull and everyone knows it. I hope Boldin gets better but you cant blame Smth for the work of physics beyond his control. It was just an unfortunate accident.

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First off, Smith doesn't deserve to be suspended because if you look at the replay, Rhodes forces Boldin's head down. Smith is not a big person. He was going for Boldin's chest, but when Rhodes struck Boldin from behind he forced his head down, making it look like a headhunting attempt.

The NFL needs to relax. Their suspension was a knee-jerk call because Boldin got knocked the heck out.

Look at the tape Goodell. Quit being such a pansy.

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I can't beleive that most ppl. feel like it was a straight on intentional hit . I saw Boldin go up for the ball , get hit in the back , jolt his body into Smith . Let me stop there and describe the motivation . DBs cover against the pass . The ball was high , all 3 men went up , Boldin went for the ball , Rhodes went for Boldin and Smith went for both Boldin and the ball to disrutp the catch . Clean hit. I'll put it this way , if Smith is lying on the feild paralized , theres no flag , no fine and no suspention. Its more than obvious that the head follows the arms and consequently thats what happens . The only time its intentional should be when THE CROWN OF THE HELMET HITS 1ST .

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The only reason Smith got suspended was because of the Boldin injury. That was not a dirty hit. Just another example of why the nfl is such a pussified joke.

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I cannot believe that half of the people posting on here want either a one year suspension or even a lifetime ban. I am glad that Bouldin is not seriously hurt. Yes he was hit with the helmet. Of course Smith wanted to knock the ball away or dislodge it from him with a hard hit. Rhodes did make contact and pushed him down and a little forward so Smiths contact point was not in the numbers. Smith has never been fined before and has a clean record which says he is not a dirty player. Harrison or Romanowski has played their whole carrer with cheap shots. Just one more thing. Bouldin is driven off the field on a cart all the players praying for him. Warner tells him how much he loves him. Then with about 20 to 30 seconds remaining after their dear friend is carried off and trailing by 21they decide to throw the ball again. Just take a knee and go in and check to see how he is doing

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