Cleveland Browns justice: NFL rights a wrong, fines Chiefs assistant Greg Lewis

The NFL has corrected their mistake and fined Chiefs assistant Greg Lewis for his role in the sideline incident with Cleveland Browns safety Ronnie Harrison.

It took more time than expected, but after some Twitter backlash and reviewing the incident over, the NFL finally decided that Chiefs assistant Greg Lewis deserved a fine for his role in the sideline push with Cleveland Browns safety Ronnie Harrison.p

The incident was bizarre to begin with, as Harrison was pushed first by Lewis, and retaliated with a push of his own. As is often the case in the NFL, however, the retaliator gets the punishment, while the instigator gets away with it. Harrison was ejected from the game for his reaction.

While Harrison is at fault for responding poorly in the heat of the moment, it’s also hard not to blame him. With the adrenaline flowing in a tightly contested game, against one of the best teams in the league, emotions are high.

However, his response cost his team, as the Browns were already thin at safety with injuries plaguing the team in Week 1.

Browns center and NFL Players Association President J.C. Tretter spoke out, along with several Browns teammates, after Harrison was initially fined and Lewis was not, saying they felt the rules needed to apply to both parties equally. Tretter says,

"“I expect that [Lewis] gets held to the same [ejection] standard — if not a higher standard than Ronnie,” Tretter said. “[For] being the first one in there and being a coach putting his hands on an opposing player.”"

While the amount that Lewis was fined was not disclosed by the league, it’s nice to see they are correcting their wrong, and providing justice for the Cleveland Browns.

This won’t help fix the sting of losing the season-opening game to the Chiefs, but it’s still a small victory, and a step in the right direction for equality between players and coaches being held to the same standards.