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October 19, 2009
Wesley apologizes and says: "The league had to do what they had to do"
An apologietic Dante Wesley said he accepted the one-week suspension handed down to him by the NFL today, while maintaining his position that his flagrant hit on Tampa Bay's Clifton Smith was not intentional.
"My reaction is the league had to do what they had to do," Wesley told the Observer. "It was just really a tough situaiton. I wasn't out there to deliberately hurt anybody. I was just out there to make a play.
"But if that's what they have to do, I have to be a man and accept it, deal with it and not let it happen again."
Wesley said he made a mistake by mistiming his tackle of Smith, hitting Smith before a punt arrived. Smith suffered a concussion and damage to his throat, according to the Tampa Tribune.
Wesley said he planned to try to contact Smith to personally apologize.
"I also want to apologize to the fans," he said. "That's not like me. I wasn't trying to be a dirty player. With me being a hard player, it's crazy that something like this would happen."
-- Charles Chandler
Posted by Observer Sports on October 19, 2009 at 06:22 PM | Permalink
Comments
You hang around Steve Smith long enough something like this i bound to happen.
Posted by: Carl Simpson | Oct 19, 2009 6:32:27 PM
What an ignorant thing to say Carl. I love the double standard of the NFL, Ray Lewis gets a fine for 2 flagrant hits in one game and Wesley is suspended. Had this game been in Charlotte Wesley wouldn't have been ejected. I still want the NFL to do something about Aqib Talib running toward the Panther's bench.
Posted by: Josh Auten | Oct 19, 2009 6:36:33 PM
What an ignorant thing to say Carl. I love the double standard of the NFL, Ray Lewis gets a fine for 2 flagrant hits in one game and Wesley is suspended. Had this game been in Charlotte Wesley wouldn't have been ejected. I still want the NFL to do something about Aqib Talib running toward the Panther's bench.
Posted by: Josh Auten | Oct 19, 2009 6:36:33 PM
I believe Wesley. It was a hard hit and penalized accordingly. Move on.
Posted by: Steve Gilmore | Oct 19, 2009 6:42:16 PM
In an earlier interview, Wesley said that Smith had sort of gave a fair catch signal that was not a fair catch signal and Smith ran with the ball. When you look at a replay, you will see that Wesley held up and then when full speed into Smith when he (Wesley) didn't see the fair catch signal. Bottom line, Wesley should not hit Smith without giving him a chance to catch the ball, but Smith was also not playing fair by not giving a clear fair catch signal.
Posted by: CP Fan | Oct 19, 2009 7:02:16 PM
Any player that leaves his feet and aims his helmet towards the other player's throat and helmet area is trying to intentionally hurt someone.
Get rid of him.
Posted by: Jim | Oct 19, 2009 7:05:39 PM
The film shows the hit was targeted at his head. Not an accident. Wesley may well be sorry but one game isn't enough for an action clearly intended to injure a player.
Posted by: Ed - Panther Fan | Oct 19, 2009 7:14:48 PM
Jim, you must not have ever played football. I played defense my whole football career, though not as long as these guys, and can say that I nor anyone I know has every aimed my helmet at someones throat to intentionally hurt them. It doesn't happen. Yes we have a mentality to knock the carp out of someone, but to hurt them, sorry, its not our goal.
This is the problem with people that don't understand the game. If Wesley would have gotten to Smith a half second later, meaning he was slower down the field, the punt hung for a shorter amount of time, he was held up for a half second long at the line of scrimmage, he would have timed the hit prefect and everyone would have been talking about what a great play. It's a violent sports and things happen sometimes like this. Wesley's running with the ball to his back, he doesn't know where it's at, he's been trained to watch the punt returner and react to their motions and that's what he did. He's taking his punishment and moving on, you should too.
Posted by: Brandon | Oct 19, 2009 7:22:05 PM
Well said, Brandon. Sometimes these things happen. Half a second later and it would have been a good hard hit and nothing else.
Posted by: Laura | Oct 19, 2009 7:35:06 PM
I think everyone is giving Wesley the benefit of the doubt. A one week suspension will teach him to be more careful. If anyone really thought it was intentional, the punishment would have been much worse. As it is Smith could have been seriously injured.
Posted by: TechRider | Oct 19, 2009 7:44:00 PM
all you panther fans dont need to take up for this dude he was wrong and should of got fined alot of money as well as suspended
Posted by: greg | Oct 19, 2009 8:07:01 PM
I agree with the earlier comments. Donte' admitted his mistake, took the punishment and is moving on. He has not been a dirty player in the past. I think that he just got caught up in the monment.
Posted by: no name | Oct 19, 2009 8:07:02 PM
Watch the replay again. He led with his shoulder and extended his arm. Poorly timed hit, but anyone who though it was sinister is blind.
Posted by: William | Oct 19, 2009 8:08:43 PM
Jim, you're simply wrong. Wesley didn't lead with his helmet and didn't hit Smith anywhere near his head. He put a shoulder and a forearm into his chest. And, yes, it was perfectly legal, since there was no fair catch call.
Had it been, say, a Cowboy doing it to one of our guys, there would have been no flag, no fine, no suspension. Recall when Lance Briggs tried to take Jake's head off on a slide?
Posted by: jdb1972 | Oct 19, 2009 8:09:35 PM
I liked the play. Fight got the Panthers riled up and they played hard for a change. Then of course, our quarterback and special teams tried to give the game back to them. Followed by the only saving grace we have, the running game, bailing us out. Great play by Dante and JRich should offer to pay the fine for him.
Posted by: ChunkyLover519 | Oct 19, 2009 8:14:37 PM
I'll tell you who thought it was sinister. Scott Fowler and Peter King. Oh, and TB fans, but who cares about them?
Posted by: ChunkyLover519 | Oct 19, 2009 8:15:32 PM
Please use spell check - situaiton is spelled situation.
Posted by: none | Oct 19, 2009 8:23:33 PM
yall are a bunch of idiots
Posted by: greg | Oct 19, 2009 8:30:01 PM
oh and carolina sucks
Posted by: greg | Oct 19, 2009 8:32:36 PM
So how much did that one game cost him? $$$?
50K? 100K?
Posted by: DumbBunny | Oct 19, 2009 8:36:00 PM
To all the fools trying to defend what Wesley did, put yourself on the sidelines of a high school or college game watching some kid do that to your son. Then try and tell me "it's all part of the game."
Posted by: nick | Oct 19, 2009 8:36:51 PM
Tell the Tampa players to block better and you won't have to worry about a hit like that. He beat two people that have only one purpose of stopping him. I am sure there were alot of injuries Sunday just because it was football should we suspend every player that plays hard and tackles. I guess we should fine JP every time he gets a sack because he got to the quarterback before he had a chance to throw the ball. Keep up the Fight Panthers. Just Win and all will be forgiven.
Posted by: cheerman23 | Oct 19, 2009 8:49:19 PM
Damn good hit. Oh and too "greg" you suck
Posted by: South Mills | Oct 19, 2009 9:01:40 PM
I love how all these fans from other "TEAMS" come on here playing the role of panther fans just to try and get shit stirred up..The bad thing is most of the "REAL" panther fans fall for it..All i see is a bunch of assholes that need to get a life and worry about your own teams.
Posted by: Jamie | Oct 19, 2009 9:14:48 PM
i love how ray lewis can stab two people and not get fined
Posted by: rick | Oct 19, 2009 9:26:09 PM
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