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Detroit Lions Will Not Punish ‘Dirty’ Dominic Raiola For Patriots Cheap Shot

By Bryan Rose

Oct 5, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Lions center Dominic Raiola (51) runs onto the field during the pre game introductions against the Buffalo Bills at Ford Field. Bills beat the Lions 17-14. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 5, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Lions center Dominic Raiola (51) runs onto the field during the pre game introductions against the Buffalo Bills at Ford Field. Bills beat the Lions 17-14. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /
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While the NFL may fine Dominic Raiola of the Detroit Lions for a cheap shot on the New England Patriots, his team decides they will not.

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The Detroit Lions have garnered a reputation for being one of the tougher teams in the NFL though there’s a fine line between being physical and dirty.

Apparently that’s not a memo center Dominic Raiola received as the Detroit Lions player admitted to attempting a cheap shot at New England Patriots defensive lineman Zach Moore.

One could potentially chalk this up to losing your cool in the moment though Raiola has been known to dish out questionable antics before though the Detroit Lions don’t feel what he did was a punishable offense. So while the NFL may hand out their own punishment to Dominic Raiola for a hit to the head, the Lions will not.

“He and I talked,” head coach Jim Caldwell said today. “We addressed the issue. He knows how we like to do things here. That’s the end of the story.”

Handing out a fine or even suspending him from practice isn’t anything more than a slap on the wrist and is essentially cosmetic in nature, so it’s hard to begrudge the Lions in that regard. On the flip side the lack of ‘punishment’ comes off as the move being acceptable which obviously isn’t okay.

Given that the Detroit Lions probably would have been best served to hand out a silly but somewhat needed punishment just to suggest they aren’t accepting of such, even if they didn’t care as it’s best for public relations. Now that they haven’t it comes across as if such is an accepted and almost encouraged move.

Hopefully the fact that Dominic Raiola has received so much attention for his dirty play, that alone will be enough reason for him to calm down his emotions though that seems questionable at best.

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