Vontaze Burfict has departed from England and has arrived home in the aftermath of his suspension for the remainder of the season due to a helmet-to-helmet hit on Colts tight end Jack Doyle on Sunday.
"I'm not really gonna say anything," Gruden said during Wednesday's press conference. "I've talked to [NFL vice president of football operations Jon] Runyon and the league office, he knows how I feel. It hurts our team really bad. I'm anxious to see what the appeal says. I'm not happy about it -- at all. I don't want to say anything else, I'm obviously upset about it."
Burfict was four games into his first season with the Raiders on Sunday when he delivered his hit on Doyle across the middle of the field. Doyle caught a pass from quarterback Jacoby Brissett on one knee and was rising when Burfict lowered his helmet and his angle of contact, bringing the crown of his helmet into Doyle's. Initially flagged for the hit, Burfict was eventually ejected after game officials conferred.
With his past indiscretions, Burfict drew a lofty penalty, but Gruden and Raiders quarterback Derek Carr disagree with the ruling.
"I don't think he was trying to hurt that man," Carr said of Burfict's hit on Doyle. "The man was going down. You see it all the time, there's flags flying everywhere. If we think about football, the guy caught it here and he's already going to hit him and he's starting to go down, obviously you're going to hit him a little higher than you expected. We see other people choking people out and they're going to play this Sunday. We see other people hitting people in the helmets and they're going to play this Sunday. And Vontaze Burfict won't play the rest of the year, I think that's a little excessive if you ask me. I don't think it's fair.
"He's a great person, his heart is broken because he's not playing football. The guy just wants to play football."
