The Denver Broncos finally got to see what their defense would look like with linebacker Dre Greenlaw on the field, but now they’re not sure he’ll be joining him for this week’s home game against the Dallas Cowboys. Greenlaw was suspended for a single game after the final play of Denver’s wild 33-32 win over the New York Giants yesterday.
The final play was an extra point that gave the Broncos the win, but Greenlaw wasn’t done expressing his displeasure with one of the referees. According to the NFL’s statement about the suspension, Greenlaw "chased after referee Brad Allen and verbally threatened him as he tried to leave the field.”
The rest of the Broncos streamed onto the field to celebrate the win, but video posted on X by Adam Schefter as part of an ESPN story by Jeff Legwold shows Greenlaw tracking down Allen, and the ref does throw a flag even though the game was technically over.
A similar article by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk also noted that fellow linebacker Justin Strnad also said something to Allen while slapping him “somewhat forcefully” in the back to keep Greenlaw from getting himself in further trouble with the ref.
The NFL said Greenlaw violated 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."
No one’s said anything about the specific beef that caused Greenlaw to go off, but a solid guess would be the pivotal defensive pass interference call in the end zone against the Broncos with less than a minute left.
Coach Sean Payton came running out onto the field to argue that one and earn an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of his own, and the Giants quickly scored a touchdown to take a brief lead, 32-30, before Denver came back with final drive that allowed Will Lutz to kick the winning 39-yard field goal.
Greenlaw has three days to appeal the suspension, which he’ll almost certainly do given the amount of time he’s been off the field prior to the Giants game. He played 21 snaps and finished with six tackles to go with a quarterback hit.
The linebacker signed a three-year, $31.5 million deal in free agency during the offseason, and Payton has talked extensively about Greenlaw’s physicality and athleticism. This is probably more than Payton bargained for, though, so regardless of the results of the appeal, he’ll doubtless be having one of those "do as I say, not as I do" conversations with Greenlaw about dialing things back a little.