Three Miami Dolphins face potential suspensions

On Thursday night the Miami Dolphins lost a game and they may lose three players before they play again a week from Sunday.

Miami fans can complain about the officiating all they want, and yes it was atrocious. Miami didn’t lose however because of officiating. They lost because they played like crap. Complete and utter garbage on both sides of the ball. And when the game began to get out of hand, the Dolphins got physical. Not with their play from the snap to the whistle but after it. It could potentially cost those players playing time.

What we do know for certain is that three players, Kiko Alonso, Ndamukong Suh, and William Hayes will all be lighter in the wallet by the end of the week. Alonso could be asking for hand outs from his teammates.

Kiko Alonso

It’s hard to believe that Alonso won’t be suspended but there is a gray area. The hit on Joe Flacco was brutal and Flacco was definitely in no shape to return to the game and may not return next week either. His helmet was taken off and his ear was cut up pretty badly on the hit by Alonso.

The hit is one that has been debated a bit. Yes it was a hit on Flacco’s helmet but the contention comes in when you break down the slide by Flacco. Flacco was moving up field for a first down and he decided to slide a bit late. Alonso didn’t appear to take a cheap shot but he did come in hard and with Flacco going into his slide his body was no longer available to hit and that left his head.

Alonso did however lead with his elbow into Flacco’s head. He wasn’t ejected from the game for intentionally hitting Flacco and that might be his only saving grace when the league hands out discipline. They will need to be 100% connvinced that Alonso blatantly hit Flacco before they can suspend him. But this is the NFL so I would guess Alonso is going to miss a game.

Ndamukong Suh

Suh had not one but two personal fouls not to be confused with unsportsmanlike conduct. He will get a fine but on closer inspection of the replays it’s not likely that he will get a suspension. On one of those fouls, Suh was seen throwing what appeared to be a punch but the replay showed he was shoving the offensive linemans hand and arm away from him. The lineman was not letting go of Suh after the play had ended.

The other penalty came when Suh gave Ryan Mallet a shove, well not really a shove. Suh grabbed Mallet by the neck and then shoved him backwards. Mallet had got in Suh’s face, apparently he isn’t very smart, and Suh gave him a quick shove that did not send him to the ground. Fine coming? Likely. Suspension? Probably not.

William Hayes

No other new addition to the defensive line has been more impressive this year than William Hayes but Miami may be without him next week against Oakland. Hayes received a person foul late in the game when he poked a Ravens player in the eye. Replay pretty much confirmed it.

Hayes hasn’t had prroblems before with the league so it will be interesting if he is suspended or if he is just fined for this first infraction. The NFL should have a decision on all three after this weekends games.