Filed under: Panthers, NFC West, NFL Injuries

Carolina Panthers WR Steve Smith will be suspended for the first two regular season games after punching CB Ken Lucas in the face.

John Fox, speaking after the Fan Fest scrimmage at Bank of America Stadium, said Smith’s actions would not be tolerated and that Smith has been given conditions for the future regarding such behavior.

Fox also said that Lucas suffered a broken nose.

Stuff like this cannot be tolerated. As I said before, this isn’t some heat of the moment practice scuffle — this was two guys standing on the sidelines getting in an arguement in which one started whaling on the other. It was interesting to see what the Panthers would do to their star player and nice to see the team take this action (and I am a Steve Smith fan).

After all, this is a team whose coach and general manager are on the hot seat and need a very good year in order to keep their jobs. It had to be tempting for them to keep Smith’s punishment seperate from missing games.

Under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, Carolina had the right to suspend Smith for four games.

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