Vrabel could face fine after last-second hit on Browns
Stark County football types remember Mike Vrabel as an edgy player at Walsh Jesuit High School. He was an edgy player at Ohio State.
<p class="MsoNormal">"The players feared the wrath of Vrabel and that 1996 senior class," ESPN analyst and former Buckeye Kirk Herbstriet wrote on an ESPN.com piece. "They would let the players know verbally and punish them if they didn't do things the right way."
<p class="MsoNormal">Vrabel may have gone over the edge Sunday as the Browns played the Patriots in Foxborough, Mass.
<p class="MsoNormal">Browns players became livid in the final seconds of a 34-17 loss when Vrabel took out two Browns on one play after the whistle had apparently blown.
<p class="MsoNormal">Browns guard Eric Steinbach emphatically said it wasn't the right way.
<p class="MsoNormal">"To dive for a guy's knees like that," Steinbach said Monday, "and almost take out the quarterback? When the game is already over with?"
<p class="MsoNormal">In the final seconds, with the Browns out of hope but still pressing to score, quarterback Derek Anderson spiked the ball to stop the clock. Vrabel, however, kept surging after the whistle against rookie left tackle Joe Thomas. In Steinbach's view, Vrabel attacked Thomas' knees.
<p class="MsoNormal">Anderson had relaxed, but Thomas and Vrabel both landed at his feet.
<p class="MsoNormal">Vrabel's right arm raked over the quarterback's legs. A look of surprise flashed over Anderson's face as he fell awkwardly.
<p class="MsoNormal">Losing a quarterback in innocuous moments has happened to the Browns before.
<p class="MsoNormal">In 2000, Tim Couch missed nine games because an overzealous rookie rushed him too closely in practice.
<p class="MsoNormal">Anderson was OK. Steinbach wasn't OK with Vrabel.
<p class="MsoNormal">"I don't know if the refs were kind of lackadaisical because it was the end of the game, but regardless ... if you're going to allow stuff like that to go on ... I thought we're trying to clean the game up. I wasn't too fond of that."
<p class="MsoNormal">When Anderson went down, Steinbach pushed Vrabel to the ground. Center Hank Fraley quickly hopped on Vrabel, going chest to chest with some choice words.
<p class="MsoNormal">Several Browns barked at Vrabel after the game ended moments later.
<p class="MsoNormal">The NFL is expected to review the sequence. Vrabel could be -- and should be, Steinbach said -- fined.
<p class="MsoNormal">On Nov. 14, 1999, Vrabel, then with the Steelers, whacked Browns quarterback Tim Couch late in a game at Pittsburgh. Vrabel was penalized, helping the Browns get in position for a game-winning field goal by Phil Dawson.
<p class="MsoNormal">Vrabel was interested in joining the team he grew up rooting for, Cleveland, as a 2001 free agent. He was disappointed when then-Browns coach Butch Davis, in his view, basically blew him off.
<p class="MsoNormal">He has gone on to help the Patriots win three Super Bowls.
<p class="MsoNormal">Vrabel's questionable act wasn't the only Patriots play that could be interpreted as a cheap shot.
<p class="MsoNormal">Safety Rodney Harrison drew some ire for yanking the face mask of Browns wideout Braylon Edwards during a route. Harrison was penalized the maximum, 15 yards.
<p class="MsoNormal">-- The Repository