Both Vontae Davis and Sean Smith missed Sunday's start against the Oakland Raiders for what coach Tony Sparano said was a "coach's decision." This, of course, is a half-truth because it doesn't explain the reason why the coach decided to keep his two starters on the bench ...
...Until now.
According to Orlando Alzugaray of 640-Sports in South Florida, both Davis and Smith were held out of their start as discipline for being late to a meeting and have also been fined for conduct detrimental to the team. Big O is also reporting that this is "at least the third time" one or both of these players is late to a meeting this year.
It is unclear the amount of the fine. I'm working on getting that to you because there is a fine schedule that NFL teams can collect from players and that follows the collective bargaining agreement.
Both Davis and Smith entered the game following the first play in which Benny Sapp and Nolan Carroll played versus Oakland.
According to the Dolphins media release, this is the first start that Davis missed this year. Smith was the starter three consecutive games before missing this start versus Oakland. He was scheduled to start against Cincinnati, saying as much on Armando and the Amigo on 640-Sports the week prior to that game, but then did not make the start. He entered the game after the first series, replacing Jason Allen and played the rest of that day.
