Darrell Davis: CFL defines malice, stupidity

Makana Henry was fined for stupidity.

There’s not exactly a CFL rule that prevents stupidity, so officially Henry was fined an undisclosed amount for ducking a shoulder into Ottawa Redblacks quarterback Dominique Davis. Henry, a defensive tackle for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, was standing out of bounds, on a sideline, when Davis got pushed in his direction.

Rather than getting out of Davis’ way, or perhaps meeting the quarterback square up, arms extended to cushion the collision, Henry leaned his right shoulder into his opponent. It was dirty. Davis went flying and was angry about the unexpected hit, but uninjured. Henry was penalized 15 yards for rough play. Appropriate. So was the fine.

No suspension was warranted. This wasn’t anything close to the head-hunting collision inflicted upon sliding Riders quarterback Zach Collaros by Hamilton Tiger-Cats linebacker Simoni Lawrence. That was malicious. Lawrence was penalized 25 yards, should have been ejected and suspended for two games. Lawrence should miss two game cheques when his appeal gets turned down.

Hopefully Henry accepts his punishment and learns from it.