Despite being a full Steeler fan as my car will attest (forus.com/xl/IMG_0004.jpg), my head is not in the sand. This is an embarrassment, up there with the quality of our field, as far as I am concerned.

If you think Timmons did not do it on purpose then you did not look (or are blinded). I replayed it 20 or more times, in high def frame by frame, and the broadcast shot from the front (not replayed much) is clear an conclusive: Timmons looked at Ricky and went out of his way to step on him intentionally to stop Ricky from moving towards the lose ball so that Timmons could assure fumble recovery.

It was malicious, and if he is not fined it is because Miami has not complained.

If Timmons is sorry, it is retrospective guilt - not being bummed at side effects of an unintentional mishap.

And don't give me "these things happen", or you have not watched it. Sometimes these things do happen unintentionally in a high-speed monster-man game. But not in this case: Timmons was in the zone, working at super human speed, and it is clear when you really look at it that he knew what he was doing.

On that turf, there's no way of knowing if Timmons was in total control of his footwork. The other foot prior to the stepping on Williams might have sunk or slipped or caught on some sod. It's unfortunate but to accuse an anxious rookie staring at a FR of intentionally stepping on Williams is way over the top.

And yes of course players get intentionally gouged, punched, clipped, rolled onto from behind and earholed. This is not beach volleyball. Good hustle by Timmons and obviously no fine should result. No Dolphin was upset at the time and their later reaction tells all you need to know.

I would say it has only been a couple days; but even at that there may be many reasons Miami might not do anything. Perhaps they don't want to look like they are whining (all the better to wait a bit before raising the issue, thus really addressing the issue than just making it a publicity thing, rather than being public about it), or perhaps they are distracted and/or don't care.

And, yes I concur, there are plenty of non-game related nasties all the time (and frankly we like it). However, that is not any reason for the league to ignore them, or for us to pretend they are "unintentional" and players are "sorry for a mistake". A line needs to keep it in check, even if we might like kickboxing-football. As with most such activity, I think they are better handled "behind the scene" (fine him, and talk with him out of the public eye). While there are many such incidents, the majority of play is above board, and only the NFL players need to be directly kept in check - I don't think public ridicule is productive to keep play in check.

Was it "malicious"? Well it was somewhere in there, but the word definition detail are a distraction not worth much discussion. He knew he put his foot there on purpose, even if motivated by adrenaline, and it caused serious injury as a professional should expect such an action would. He must be intentionally "not-so-malicious" as a pro, or they will kill each other out there beyond the passive damage. They should hit hard, with intention to overpower and do damage, but they all know there are right ways and wrong ways - they are all tough enough to "cheat" and kill each other without difficulty.

As noted, Simons' hit was also wrong, but a bit less calculated - he was at least making a legitimate tackle. Simmons could have turned his head, but did not (at least not intentionally, I am surprised Simmons own neck was not broken when it turned back at high speed). And, he is supposed to know to do that. As you say, it happens all the time, including the facemask to Hines also in the same game.

Mostly, I wouldn't bring it up accept to contradict statements that claim this "step" was not intentional. It was not OK, and not "just a mistake", and that is my only point.

Tangent: "no way" side note: yes there is. You have not watched it, or are blinded.
Tangent: "Questionable": he looked and then "redirected" to set his foot very specifically. It was intentional. That is why we have replay, because we are not as fast as these super-men.

The better point here is: how do you live without HD and DVR (you one of those Cavemen)?

I never made this clear...

Many comments seem to imply that people think that Ricky was in Timmons' possible normal path... he was not. When seen from the front angle (the frist broadcast reply), it is clear Timmons' path and motion was not over Ricky.

Timmons' path was already in the direction towards the ball, up field from Ricky (a shorter path than over Ricky). That includes Timmons' momentum. Timmons redirected to get to Ricky, to stop Ricky, and then pushed back to his original path to the ball using Ricky's momentum.

It is clear. It happened. When you see it, it is not debatable. How important it is is debatable, but it did cost a guy the rest of his year, even if you are not a Ricky fan.

Hey, Timmons' move made sense, but that does not make it "unintentional" or "right". Since this is a major point of the starting of this thread, I will harp on it (but only here).

Damn, I did not record it either.

However, a quick search brings up some low quality footage at www.faniq.com, and the combination of the frames at "-30" and also at "-20" show how far the ball was ahead, that Simmons saw the whole deal, and then how far he had to direct his leg to get Ricky.

You need both angles to be undeniably sure, but the conclusion is clear (even more so with HD quality footage).

tinyurl.com/2fekwz  (goes to www.faniq.com)

Again, Timmons did not need to "avoid" Ricky to be "OK". What he needed to was not go out of his way to jam Ricky in the back.

I've had my bit, and will shut up now. You be the judge.

That was more of a stomp and clearly intentional and malicious. As daball noted, these things are handled internally and, if Timmons deliberately intended to use Ricky as a launching pad to the ball, I'm sure Lebeau, Aaron Smith and others will get the message across to him that what goes around comes around. Miami's job is to take care of its players and therefore it is their responsibility to bring perceived injustices to the league's attention.  They have decided not to, at least to this point in time. His agent Leigh Steinberg could also make a stink about this but nothing from him either. His comment: ''Unfortunately, injuries are part of the game and his return was in the most extreme conditions."

This was a ball-pursuit play in the course of action on a terrible surface. I've reviewed the play and I don't think you can ascribe malicious intent to a split-second physical reaction on a bad surface. You could argue it was recklessly careless but this is football and rarely does a running step on someone result in a debilitating injury. It is certainly not unusual for players, especially linemen, to get stepped on in the course of play and that's just part of the game. A lineman will look at this play and say, ''well that's too bad but ... you should see MY cleat marks.''