Duron Carter's one-game suspension, others' fines seem like the right calls

When Montreal Alouettes' receiver Duron Carter was ejected in Thursday's loss to Ottawa after bumping into and knocking over Redblacks' head coach Rick Campbell following a touchdown and became a cross-sports talking point afterwards, it seemed likely further discipline would be coming. That discipline has now been handed down, with the CFL announcing Monday that Carter would be suspended for one game and Campbell and Redblacks' DBs Jerrell Gavins and Jermaine Robinson all receiving fines. There will be plenty of debate about this one, with some saying the league was too harsh and others arguing they were too lenient, but from this corner, it looks like they struck the right balance.

One of the key questions in this incident was if Carter's walk to the opposing sideline and bump into Campbell was deliberate, or if he was stunned after taking a hit to the head from Robinson on the play and didn't know where he was going or what he was doing. Former Calgary Stampeder Randy Chevrier defended Carter on Twitter Friday, saying he'd taken hits and lost control of where he was both on and off the field, and Carter's post-game comments Thursday of "To tell the truth, I don't even know what happened" might also work along those lines. No one from the outside can get inside Carter's head and know exactly how he was feeling and acting at that moment, and it doesn't appear there was a concussion protocol test done to either substantiate or refute that defence, but the possibility that Carter was doing this less-than-deliberately must be considered.

Even putting aside questions of a head injury, it's not clear at all that Carter headed over to the sideline with the intention of pushing Campbell. There were also questions about what Campbell was doing that far out on the field (where he's really not supposed to be), and beyond that, one particular replay suggests that Campbell leaned into Carter first. Thus, this isn't as blatant or as one-sided as it may have seemed at first, and that's why Campbell and the two Ottawa DBs wound up with fines. That's also why it likely wouldn't have made sense to suspend Carter more than one game. A one-game suspension sounds light at first, but in an 18-game regular season, it's pretty significant.

So, with these potentially mitigating factors, should the league have just fined Carter instead of suspending him? From this corner, no. Carter's actions were so far beyond what's acceptable, and crossed a particular line (players making contact with players is one thing, making contact with an opposing coach is another); the worldwide media attention they received is proof of how out of the norm and beyond the acceptable they were. The CFL couldn't let that slide with just a fine, especially with no conclusive proof Carter was concussed, and no firm testimony from him to that point.

Suspending Carter for a game is fair but not overly vindictive, and fining the Redblacks for their part in this (Campbell being on the field, approaching Carter and then falling dramatically, Gavins for throwing a punch in the ensuing melee and making an inappropriate gesture towards fans, and Robinson for the high hit that started all this) makes sense too. This is harsher on the Alouettes than the Redblacks (especially with the news that fellow Montreal receiver S.J. Green is out for the year, losing Carter for even one game is a major blow), but it seems to line up with the respective severity of each side's actions. CFL discipline is not an easy task, and it seems likely plenty of Redblacks' fans will think this isn't harsh enough on Carter, while Alouettes' fans may think it's too harsh by far. From this corner, though, it looks like the league made the right call.