The Story That Was Buried On Tuesday: Cedric Benson's Suspension Reduced To One Game

Never in my five years since introducing Cincy Jungle to the world do I recall a suspension that was announced and so quickly buried as a hovering house fly like the announcement of Cedric Benson's one-game suspension on Tuesday. Without the quick-paced updates on Palmer, and the significance on Tuesday's trade, Benson would have been the lead story on during a bye-week. Additionally the seemingly importance of Benson filing an unfair practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against the NFLPA was fairly big. Though we knew Benson was facing a suspension, we never expected the league's decision before the NLRB charge was resolved.

As the hours ticked away on Tuesday and the Bengals set themselves up to improve their personnel for the future, Cedric Benson will still be facing a one-game suspension that will be served against the Seattle Seahawks on October 30.

The NFL and NFLPA agreed in early August that eight players, who committed violations against the league's personal conduct policy, would face suspensions while giving what amounts to an asylum to the 20-plus players that also violated the policy. Cedric Benson and his representative took issue with that, filing an unfair practice claim against the National Labor Relations Board for the suspension while appealing the NFL's decision through the league's appeals process, claiming that since the lockout was in effect, he wasn't actually employed by the league nor mandated by any conduct policy because no collective bargaining agreement was in place.

His claim with the National Labor Relations Board is still ongoing, but the league announced on Tuesday Benson's three-game suspension will be reduced to one game, which Benson will serve against the Seattle Seahawks next Sunday after the bye week. Bernard Scott is expected to get the start.