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Ben Roethlisberger: Not 'fair' to punish JuJu Smith-Schuster same as Rob Gronkowski

Ben Roethlisberger: Not 'fair' to punish JuJu Smith-Schuster same as Rob Gronkowski

Ben Roethlisberger: Not 'fair' to punish JuJu Smith-Schuster same as Rob Gronkowski

Ben Roethlisberger does not think it's fair Steelers wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster was punished the same as Rob Gronkowski for their hits over the weekend.

Both Smith-Schuster and Gronkowski received one-game suspensions, but there has been much discussion as to whether the two plays were comparable. On Smith-Schuster's play he was making a block, albeit a somewhat unnecessary one, during a play, while Gronkowski's hit came after the whistle had been blown.

"I don't like to compare players and suspensions, things like that, but you look at what Gronk did and what Juju did, they got the same suspension," Roethlisberger told reporters Wednesday. "I don't know that that's necessarily fair."

Roethlisberger did say Smith-Schuster deserved to be fined for the play, though mostly because of how he taunted Burfict after the hit rather than for the collision itself. He said he did not think he should have been suspended.


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"I didn't think it was warranted," he said. "I thought maybe a fine, pretty steep fine, something like that, but I thought the play that happened happened in the context of a football play, it wasn't away from the ball, it wasn't a hit on a kicker, a defenseless player, it was a guy getting ready to make a tackle, a much bigger football player."

Smith-Schuster appealed his suspension, but it was upheld.