Haynesworth suspended for unprecedented five games
ESPN.com news services
The NFL has handed down a lengthy five-game suspension to Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth for kicking Dallas Cowboys center Andre Gurode in the head.
That length of suspension represents the biggest on-field disciplinary action in league history. Charles Martin held the previous high for a suspension, sitting two games for his bodyslam of Bears quarterback Jim McMahon on Nov. 23, 1986.
"This is an unprecedented suspension. I feel like his actions on the field were also unprecented," Titans coach Jeff Fisher said.
"I felt there needed to be some serious action taken from a discipline standpoint, and I think what the league has done now is adequate."
The suspension will cost Haynesworth $190,070 -- or one-seventeenth of his 2006 base salary of $646,251.
"I think five games, five paychecks is substantial," Fisher said.
The suspension takes effect immediately. Haynesworth can return on Nov. 19 for the Titans' game at Philadelphia.
"There is absolutely no place in the game, or anywhere else, for the inexcusable action that occurred in yesterday's Titans-Cowboys game," commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.
Haynesworth was contrite after the incident.
"I apologize to Andre," he said Sunday. "What I did was disgusting. It's something that should never happen. I mean, I'm not a dirty player. I don't play dirty. I have respect for the game. What I feel like is I disgraced the game, disgraced my team and disgraced my last name."
Julius Jones had just scored on a 5-yard run, putting Dallas up 20-6 in what wound up as a 45-14 victory. Gurode's helmet came off, and Haynesworth, standing over him, used his right foot to kick Gurode in the head.
Gurode said they hadn't been talking or having any exchanges that led to Haynesworth kicking him twice. He received stitches above his forehead and beneath his eye.
"In all my years of football, this has never happened to me. I've never been kicked in the face like this, and I've never seen anybody kick nobody else in the face," Gurode said.
"What I did was disgusting," the Titans' Albert Haynesworth said of his stomp on Cowboys center Andre Gurode's face.
A flag was thrown, and Haynesworth followed an official toward the Titans' sideline, protesting.
Haynesworth pulled off his helmet and slammed it to the ground, prompting another flag. Referee Jerome Boger disqualified Haynesworth, and the player walked off the field after talking briefly with Fisher.
"It's ridiculous to get to that point. Two back-to-back penalties like that, there's no place for it," Fisher said.
Gurode didn't play the rest of the second half.
"This vision was kind of blurry in my left eye," he said. "If it was clear, I would have tried to come back in to play."
The Associated Press and ESPN.com's John Clayton contributed to this report.
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