OCTOBER 21: Greenlaw’s suspension has been upheld on appeal, per NFL Senior VP of Football & International Communications Michael Signora. The Broncos linebacker will officially be sitting out Sunday’s matchup with the Cowboys.
OCTOBER 20: Dre Greenlaw has been hit with a one-game ban. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Broncos linebacker has been suspended one game without pay for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Per the NFL’s release (via Josina Anderson), Greenlaw “chased after referee Brad Allen and verbally threatened him as he tried to leave the field.” The league cited Rule 12, Section 3, Article 1(b), which prohibits “the use of abusive, threatening or insulting language or gestures to opponents, teammates, officials, or representatives of the League.” It’s uncertain what sparked Greenlaw’s outburst, but NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo suspects it may have stemmed from the pass-interference penalty on a previous drive that ultimately got head coach Sean Payton flagged for arguing.
Garafolo notes that Greenlaw has three days to appeal his suspension. If it’s upheld, the linebacker will be forced to miss this Sunday’s matchup with the Cowboys.
It’s not ideal timing for the veteran, who was just making his Broncos debut after sitting out the first month-plus of the season while recovering from a quad injury. He ended up getting into about a quarter of his team’s defensive snaps yesterday, finishing with six total tackles and a QB hit. Greenlaw joined the Broncos on a three-year, $35MM deal after spending the first six seasons of his career with the 49ers. Injuries wiped out his 2021 and 2024 seasons, but he compiled a total of 247 tackles between 2022 and 2023.
Alex Singleton has yet to miss a defensive snap for the Broncos this season and will continue anchoring the linebackers room, but the team will have to get a bit creative with Greenlaw out for Week 8. Justin Strnad stepped up while his teammate was sidelined with an injury, and the former fifth-round pick will likely continue seeing a healthy dose of snaps against Dallas. Rookie Que Robinson has also seen an uptick in playing time since making his NFL debut in Week 6.
That Riley Moss PI call was so bad, the ref should appeal for Greenlaw.
Tons of people complained about the NFL making PI challengeable, and then did a self-congratulatory victory lap when that was scrapped. It just doesn’t make any sense. For such a terribly called, stupidly subjective, offensively advantageous, and devastatingly impactful foul, it absolutely should not be immune to challenging. A team could move, in theory at least, the length of the entire field on offense on that call.
The NFL already limits challenges for coaches-they absolutely need to let them question that call.
I’d be interested in knowing the ratio of defensive pass interference calls to offensive pass interference calls. I’m constantly seeing WRs push off a defender to gain separation with no penalty called.
The ref pushed Strnad after the game when the broncos were celebrating, that’s when Greenlaw followed him standing up for his teammate..
You need to look at other angles of this video. The main one on the field level makes it look like what’s why, but it you watch him leave the sidelines he is heading right towards the ref. He got caught up in a scrum of people but he was going after the ref way before that tiny little shove happened
Did the ref have their mic on? If not then it is his word against Greenlaw. The refs can whine about any player and get them suspended if that is the case.