CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Georgia’s Brainerd Motorsports Park has announced the formation of the Four-Forty Bad Boyz drag racing series.

The Four-Forty Bad Boyz class will consist of a seven-race series held on the third weekend of every month from April through October.  Racers from all around the tri-state region and as far away as Florida, Michigan, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, will fight it out to determine who the champion and bad boy (or girl) title belt holder will be.

The race day format will be a 4.40 index race with two rounds of qualifying, and an all run field put on a pro ladder.

“The amount of interest we’ve had in a very short period of time has been nothing short of amazing,” said Brainerd Motorsports Park Track Manager Steven Farrow. “Index racers who want to speed up, pro mod racers who want to slow down, fast top sportsman racers, small tire guys who’re looking for a home, new cars being purpose built for the class…we’ve heard from just about everyone, and they’re all welcome.

“I believe that the family type atmosphere of BMP, and additional perks such as free Friday testing and overnight parking for everybody who buys a 4.40 tech card, will add value to racers who’re traveling from far away.”

Another idea being tossed around is a racer appreciation barbecue each Friday evening at no charge.

“We may have to adjust that one based on how many show up and how much they can eat,” said Farrow with a laugh.

Brainerd Motorsports Park will also offer a non-denominational chapel service on Saturday morning in consideration of traveling racers who can’t attend their regular home church on Sunday.

The Bad Boyz and BMP plan to make an official announcement about the guaranteed monthly purse structure, and its series sponsors at the conclusion of the PRI Trade Show in Indianapolis, Ind., next month.

PLACERVILLE, Calif. — Chad Boat has been notably absent from NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series competition of late, and as it turns out, that’s somewhat by design.

The 27-year-old son of 1998 Indianapolis 500 polesitter Billy Boat confirmed to Sprint Car & Midget he is scaling back his driving efforts to devote more of his focus to the growth of Tucker-Boat Motorsports, the midget racing operation he co-owns with Corey Tucker.

Boat’s most recent driving appearance came during the 4-Crown Nationals at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway in late September. Since then, he’s turned the controls of his No. 84 over to Gio Scelzi, who earned fast time at Tri-State Speedway and a win at Placerville (Calif.) Speedway.

While it’s a different role than what fans have been used to seeing Boat in over the past few years, the Arizona native said he’s at peace with the change.

“That’s definitely where I’m headed,” Boat said of scaling back his schedule behind the wheel. “With the program we build, I think we have the caliber of drivers that can go out there and win night in and night out, and I’ll kind of take a step back, which is something I’m definitely comfortable with.

“I’m excited about it, to be honest,” he added. “When you bring guys to the track that can win night in and night out, it makes a lot easier to not be driving one myself.”

Boat’s team has grown from a single car, which he drove himself three years ago, to a multi-car powerhouse that contends for victories nearly on a weekly basis.

Tucker-Boat Motorsports fielded four cars — for Scelzi, Christopher Bell, Aaron Reutzel and Dillon Welch — during this week’s Elk Grove Ford Hangtown 100 at Placerville, with the quartet all making the features both Tuesday and Wednesday.

It was a stark contrast to Clauson-Marshall Racing, whose four full-time drivers all missed the show Tuesday night, and Keith Kunz/Curb=Agajanian Motorsports, where half of its drivers failed to make the opening-night grid.

In Boat’s eyes, however, this kind of success and potency has always been the long-term goal.

“Ever since I came back to midget racing, this has always been the goal, is to continue to build the program and make it into something like this,” he noted. “Obviously, it’s probably happening quicker than I would have expected, but it’s very rewarding nonetheless. We’re definitely excited about all the partners we have on, with Pristine Auction, K&C Drywall, Toyota Racing … and some other exciting things coming in the future at the Chili Bowl with different partners we’re going to have out there.

“We’re looking forward to all of that; I’d say you’re seeing a really great time for Tucker-Boat Motorsports.”

Boat knew the road to getting an all-star cast of drivers would be a long one, but that road he set out on back in 2016 has finally come to fruition.

“Obviously it’s taken some time to build … and there’s always growing pains when you expand cars, but we’ve made it now to where it’s an exciting stretch here with the caliber of drivers that we have right now,” Boat said. “We proved what we’re capable of and that’s what you have to do when you want to bring the best of the best on board. All our guys right now are proven winners and we’re gonna hopefully rack up some more wins as we go along.

“Obviously, having guys like Christopher and Aaron, they know what they want in a car. They’re professionals and I even include Gio in that. He’s a professional race car driver and guys like that really do know what they want,” Boat added. “If we give that to them, they go out and get the job done.”

As for when he might be back behind the wheel next, Boat didn’t have a definitive answer.

He tipped that returning as a driver for marquee events, like the upcoming Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals in January, is “the plan” depending on how team partnerships come together over the next few weeks.

However, he didn’t necessarily say he’d miss full-time driving as he moves into his more-managerial role, saying that helping other drivers to succeed is “definitely rewarding in the same way” as racing.

“I think you still get that same feeling of accomplishment and reward and it’s even a little bit more rewarding when you’re able to help someone else succeed, at least I do,” Boat added. “We’ll just keep doing the best we can and see how we can close this year out.”

The final official PGA Tour event of the year is underway, and a former major champ is out in front. Here's how things stand after the opening round of the RSM Classic, where Webb Simpson got hot late in the round and took a one-shot lead:

Leaderboard: Webb Simpson (-7, Plantation Course), Cameron Tringale (-6, Seaside Course), K.H. Lee (-6, Seaside), Rhein Gibson (-6, Plantation), Brian Harman (-5, Plantation), Scott Harrington (-5, Seaside)

What it means: This week's field is split between the Seaside and newly-redesigned Plantation courses at Sea Island, with the Seaside layout hosting play over the weekend. Simpson carded the low round (to par) on the easier of the two, and he's back in front at an event where he lost in a playoff back in 2011. But it's crowded near the top amid ideal scoring conditions, with nearly 30 players starting the week with rounds of 4 under or better.

Round of the day: Simpson started slowly on the Plantation Course, playing his first five holes in 1 over. But he birdied the next hole and didn't look back, shooting a 6-under 30 on his second nine. At No. 12 in the world he's the highest-ranked player in the field, and this continues a run of solid results for a player who finished T-7 in his lone other fall start and hasn't finished outside the top 30 in a stroke-play event since March.

Best of the rest: Going off raw score, Tringale's 6-under 64 on the Seaside Course edges the 7-under 65 from Simpson on Plantation. Tringale remains in search of his first career victory on Tour, having rallied to keep his card late last season. He already has two top-20 finishes this fall and closed his opening round with three birdies over his final four holes.

Biggest disappointment: Billy Horschel lost a playoff at this event three years ago, and he finished T-8 last week in Mexico. But Horschel has work to do if he's going to make the cut after opening with a 2-over 74 on the Plantation Course, a round that included five bogeys.

Main storyline heading into Friday: Given Simpson's track record, both at this event and this year in general, he's likely to linger near the top of the standings throughout the weekend. But keep an eye on a pair of players in the logjam at 4 under: Patrick Rodgers, last year's playoff runner-up, and Brendon Todd, who's off to a solid start as he looks to win his third straight event.

Shot of the day: Johnson Wagner made an albatross on the par-5 15th hole on the Seaside Course, holing his approach from 256 yards. The shot helped Wagner to a 3-under 67 in the opening round.

Quote of the day: "Playing with guys who are making birdies, it's hard to stay patient. But I was able to do that." - Simpson

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Johnson Wagner is not the flashiest player on the PGA Tour. He’s not as long as a Brooks Koepka or Rory McIlroy and doesn’t dominate the greens like Jordan Spieth or Jason Day. 

But the 39-year-old father of two has one thing those high-profile players do not – three albatrosses on Tour with the most recent coming Thursday at Sea Island Resort. That ties Wagner with Tim Petrovic for the most albatrosses on Tour in the ShotLink era (1983).

“I think it’s luck more than anything,” said Wagner following his first-round 67 at the RSM Classic.

Wagner hit 3-wood for his second shot from 255 yards at the par-5 15th hole on the Seaside course for his record-tying albatross.

“Front pin, love that pin,” Wagner said. “After I hit the tee shot I just wanted to make sure I could give it a go because it’s an eagle pin. I had to hit it as hard as I could. As soon as it came off I knew it was going to be good. It hit just short, took a nice bounce, then we saw it hit the stick and disappear. It was awesome.”

Johnson’s first albatross on Tour was at the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2010 and he added No. 2 at the ’17 Wyndham Championship. He also made an albatross on the Korn Ferry Tour.

NAPLES, Fla. – Sei Young Kim made a 12-foot eagle putt on the 17th hole to pull away from the pack with a 7-under 65 for a two-shot lead Thursday after the opening round of the season-ending CME Globe Tour Championship.

At stake is the richest prize ever in women's golf, with $1.5 million going to the winner, regardless of her position in the Race to CME Globe standings.

Kim, already a two-time winner on the LPGA this year, was bogey-free on a pleasant, breezy Tiburon Golf Club.

Nelly Korda ran off three straight birdies on the front nine and really poured it on late, playing her final three holes in 4 under. That put Korda, at No. 3 the highest-ranked American in women's golf, at 67 with So Yeon Ryu and Georgia Hall.

He's back. Eleven months have passed since Jose Mourinho was sacked by Manchester United and, in between, we got a couple of commercials for bookmakers, a global roadshow in multiple languages to remind us he was still special, some technical analysis in TV studios and talk of wanting to join a club with "structural empathy." That's your starting point. Those two words: "structural" and "empathy." Will Mourinho get this at Tottenham now that he has replaced Mauricio Pochettino?

As far as structure is concerned, despite praising not just Tottenham's "great structure" but the "dynamic of the structure" at his cheery unveiling to the press on Thursday, Mourinho will get what he had at Manchester United, where executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward held control, unless something radical happens in North London: He'll be working for an owner who never speaks and sits an ocean away (Joe Lewis), plus a big boss in Daniel Levy who runs the club, micromanaging transfers and budgets. And not much else, in the sense that there is no Director of Football or Head of Recruitment to act as a buffer between the manager and the top.

As for empathy, suffice to say it's not a word often associated with Levy, his new Woodward. Levy is routinely depicted as a shrewd, ruthless negotiator, relentlessly looking for value. It's a neat contrast with the profligacy of his previous boss -- whether it be Alexis Sanchez' paycheck or Romelu Lukaku's fee -- but it's also a different way of doing business.

Woodward is (or at least was when Mourinho was at Old Trafford) the guy who buys the priciest ingredients in an attempt to bake the best pie and then looks to grow it; Levy is the guy who doesn't like to share his pie and looks after every single crumb.

But look at it another way: Perfect fits are exceedingly rare in the highest echelons of football. If you take over a team in mid-season, it's usually going to be a club in distress. It will usually be in distress because your new employers made some very poor choices and you have to trust that they will make better decisions going forward.

There is no question here that while Mauricio Pochettino bears some of the responsibility for what went wrong at Tottenham -- the most damning statistic: 25 points from 24 league games dating back to February -- and was effectively waiting to leave since the summer, which no doubt hurt Spurs' performance, fingers of blame have to be pointed upstairs.

It's easy to be desensitised because it has been a running theme for so long, but it's simply unconscionable for a club to find itself with four starters -- Jan Vertonghen, Christian Eriksen and Toby Alderweireld -- out of contract next summer and Danny Rose, who wants to leave, in contractual limbo. While it's true that Pochettino made a point of pushing out various recruitment figures at the club (Franco Baldini and Paul Mitchell) to arrive at a situation where it was just him and Levy calling the shots, it's equally true that the buck stops with Levy.

When a player is underperforming, you sell. When a player is running down his contract, you either sell or extend it. These are basic tenets of running a club. It's what Spurs used to do very well -- this is the club that got around £60 million ($80m) for Kevin Wimmer, Nabil Bentaleb, Benjamin Stambouli, Roberto Soldado and Paulinho -- but it's what they were seemingly incapable of doing over the summer. Offers came in for every one of the "Tottenham Four" named above but partly due to indecision (from both Levy and Pochettino), partly due to an incorrect belief that they could get more and partly due to disagreements on potential replacements, they all stuck around.

So this is what Mourinho inherits: Not much "structural empathy" there at all. He tiptoed around the contractual time bomb on Thursday, noting that "it is too early."

"I have no time for individual cases," he said. "I don't know how I can influence or try to influence. Mr Levy did not have time to discuss this."

Whether you buy this or not, it's hard to imagine Mourinho walking into a situation where some $300m worth of talent (the minimum cost to replace them) could be walking away in the next few months without assurances of the grand plan. What's the budget to replace them? Or do Spurs think they can persuade them extend their deals? Or is yet to be discussed in detail with Mourinho? Or -- as some have mooted -- is it all largely irrelevant because Lewis, having built a new stadium and enjoyed consistent top four finishes, is going to sell the club?

That last bit of speculation -- and it is just speculation -- would explain why Mourinho is so relaxed. He gets the club, he gets the stadium, he gets the academy and training ground ("So good it can't be compared with any in football, just some NFL teams"), he gets London... but he doesn't get Levy and the budget restrictions. Instead, he gets a hypothetical deep-pocketed new owner willing to make his dreams come true.

If that were the case, you too would be chilled out about taking over a team where four regulars have one foot out the door. Where Dele Alli is coming off a long injury and hasn't yet returned to level he was before. Where Eric Dier, once a mainstay for club and country, has started seven league matches in 2019. Where Serge Aurier is his only serviceable right-back. Where injured goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris won't be back until the New Year. And where there are only six clubs below them in the Premier League table.

Dysfunction above Mourinho, distress in the squad and a league position that leaves little margin for error, at least this season. On the flip side, there will be plenty of mitigating circumstances of the "he'll need at least four transfer windows to sort it out" variety, like the overtures we heard when he was at Old Trafford.

Tottenham are in a situation screaming out for "rebuild" and "long game," except that Mourinho's past suggests this is not where he excels. We know how the United rebuild went (not well). His second Chelsea stint was more retooling than a rebuild. The bulk of his Real Madrid squad arrived the season before him.

In short, he's the guy who jumps on the bike in the last few miles of a Tour de France stage, pedals furiously and gets you over the line first, not the guy who builds the bike from scratch and does the first 200 miles. And that's before you get into his other character traits: The rows with other managers, the sniping about his own players, the moans about the club and the testosterone-filled "Special One" schtick that wore thin a long time ago.

But -- and this is something we often forget -- managers are human beings, not WWE characters. They evolve, they change, their storylines have an arc. It's not set in stone that the Mourinho we'll see at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be the guy who rocked up at the Bernabeu, Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford. He knows that he left his past three jobs under a huge cloud.

Likely this was part of the reason he sounded so humble on Thursday. Asked if Tottenham were getting a new and improved Jose, he sounded like a guy just back from a Tony Robbins self-help session.

"I think so. I believe so. I have to believe so," he said. "I always thought that these eleven months [out of the game] were not a waste of time. These [were months] to think, to analyze, to prepare... I think you never lose your DNA, your identity, what you are [but] I had time to think about many things. I realized that during my career I made mistakes. I am not going to make the same mistakes. I am going to make new mistakes."

"I am humble," he added. "I am humble to enough to analyse my career, problems and solutions. The principle of the analysis was not to blame anyone else."

If Mourinho is introspective enough to realise that he needs to change, if he's intelligent enough to figure out how best to change while keeping what made him a great manager, if he's virtuous enough to follow through on it, if he can go back to the shop floor and rediscover what made him excel with limited resources at Porto nearly two decades ago, and if Levy can regain his transfer mojo and install a better working relationship than what the Pochettino one had become, then it might just work.

But that's a ton of "if."

No result Durban Heat 21 for 3 (Ngidi 2-2) v Tshwane Spartans 141 for 4 (Elgar 57*, de Bruyn 40, Siboto 1-25)

There were only 17.1 overs of cricket played between the Tshwane Spartans and Durban Heat as rain forced a fourth no-result in 12 matches in the Mzansi Super League so far. The impact of the weather-affected games has been most keenly felt on the points table where the two teams sit in opposite halves, despite both completing only one match each. The Spartans had won their match and are in the third position, while Heat had lost theirs and are in the fifth place. The Heat may have fancied their chances of claiming a second victory when they were asked to chase 66 in five overs at SuperSport Park but three quick wickets swung the game in the Spartans' favour before the rain had the last say.

De Bruyn and Elgar at again

After their 104-run stand in a stunning chase in Paarl, Theunis de Bruyn and Dean Elgar showed why they should be on the radar for the national white-ball teams with another impressive start. The pair took 21 off Kyle Abbott's first two overs to race to 62 without loss at the end of the powerplay. De Bruyn was run out for 40. There was an appeal for obstructing the field against Elgar when he was on 43 but third umpire decided Elgar had not changed his path and he went on to bring up his fifty off 33 balls and looked set for many more.

Quiet AB

Keshav Maharaj turned the screws on the opening pair, which may have led to de Bruyn's dismissal when he took on Andile Phehlukwayo's arm, but that brought AB de Villiers to the crease. In front of his home crowd, de Villiers was expected to thrill but it was Phehlukwayo who produced the magic once again. He lured de Villiers into chasing a short, wide ball and Dane Vilas took an easy catch behind the stumps.

The first signs of trouble

After 65 minutes into the first innings, the players were called off the field due to rain. They stayed off for 40 minutes and returned for ten before lightning forced them off again. Another 35 minutes passed before play resumed.

Ngidi jolts Heat's chase

The Spartans' defence started in the best way possible when Lungi Ngidi took a simple return catch off his own bowling to dismiss Wesley Marshall and then had dangerous Wihan Lubbe, caught at deep mid-wicket by AB de Villiers. Alex Hales survived the hat-trick ball by tickling it to third man to get Heat off the mark. The umpires' decided to keep continuing in the drizzle but after 2.1 overs, just when Dane Vilas' off stump was removed by Morne Morkel, the rain got heavier and the match had to be called off.

Can rain leave these two teams alone?

The short answer seems to be no, and here's a breakdown of how it's all (not) played out. The first match between the Heat and Spartans, which was due to be played in Durban, was abandoned without a ball being bowled after heavy rain on the country's east coast. Six days later, Heat's second match against the Paarl Rocks, also at Kingsmead, was also unable to get underway. By then, the Spartans game against the Nelson Mandela Giants at SuperSport Park had yielded a no-result with just 7.1 overs bowled. The Spartans may have been rather pleased to get away with that one because they were 33 for 4 when the heavens opened.

Both teams got their campaigns underway on the same day, November 17, in the ninth and tenth match of the tournament respectively. Heat finally got on the park in Durban and went down to Cape Town Blitz by ten runs while the Spartans had better luck in the Boland. They hunted down 186 against the Paarl Rocks. And then came this, an innings cut down to 15 overs and a chase reduced to five that couldn't be completed.

In the coming years, it will likely be difficult to recall a time when Tom Banton was not lighting up franchise leagues the world over; lapping, scooping, reversing, driving and hooking bowlers to the end of their wits.

The 2019 Vitality Blast, in which he was the second-highest run-scorer (549), proved Banton's breakout tournament and promised a future filled with both runs and riches. Barely a game went by without drool-inducing highlight reels of Banton and Somerset opening partner Babar Azam taking apart opposition attacks.

ALSO READ: Banton lights up Blast and attracts franchise interest

It earned him an eight-game deal in Australia's Big Bash League and England honours against New Zealand, in what feels like the start of a special career for the 21-year-old. But it is here, at the Abu Dhabi T10, that Banton's pending globe-trot has begun and if his performances so far are anything to go by, it will indeed be the start of something special.

Banton, who wants to eventually play all three formats for England, already had an unbeaten 53 from 28 balls in the win over Northern Warriors to his name before a stunning broadcast of his 360 degree range in victory over Karnataka Tuskers. The Qalandars opener bludgeoned a man-of-the-match 80 from only 28 balls, an innings that included nine fours and six sixes to keep his side in the competition.

Having departed with 13 balls remaining in the innings, Banton at one stage was well set to become the first centurion in the tournament's history having returned to playing his natural game, rather than being caught up in "muscling" balls out the ground.

"That's probably where I've struggled here," Banton told ESPNcricinfo the day prior to registering the fifth highest score in Abu Dhabi T10 history. "I've seen other players smacking it 100 metres and I've kind of forgot what I'm good at and that's probably not muscling it out of the ground because that's probably not an area of strength for me so [I need to] just remember what I'm good at and what got me here."

He did just that on Thursday night in a rollocking innings reminiscent of those that have turned Banton into a potential trump card for England going into back-to-back ICC T20 World Cups over the next two years.

And Banton admits his catapulting success this summer, including the three T20I outings in England's series win over the Black Caps at the start of November, makes for a "weird" year. Things could have been so different for Banton, who returned to Taunton ahead of the new season following a winter with South Perth in Australia that was far from enjoyable from a cricketing perspective.

"At the beginning of the year, I'd never have thought this would've happened," Banton explained. "I would've been happy to play a few first team games, got a few scores but I think once you get on a roll in cricket you kind of can't stop really. I haven't looked back since." Quite.

Banton's quick hands, mastery of the reverse and background in hockey draw parallels to Jos Buttler, AB de Villiers and Eoin Morgan in terms of their shared transition of stick skills as well as their ability to find the boundary all round the park.

And Banton's partnership with Babar at the top of the Somerset order has led to some highlight reel. Not only that, it seemingly spurred Lahore Qalandars COO Sameen Rana, who is also CEO of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise's T10 offshoot Qalandars, to draft the Englishman.

"Sameena, our owner for the Qalandars team, told me that he was getting messages galore before this saying to pick me," said Banton, who describes Babar as "the best player I've ever seen."

"Obviously they love cricket over there so it's obviously great to have a lot of people rooting for you to do well so it's nice to see."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters says he holds no animosity toward the Los Angeles Rams heading into Monday night's reunion with his former team.

"I don't got a chip on my shoulder," Peters said Thursday. "How did it end? I got traded, and I'm liking the situation I'm in right now. I just keep moving forward. I don't need other stuff like that. I understand the business of football."

On Oct. 15, the Rams traded Peters to the Ravens in exchange for linebacker Kenny Young and a 2020 fifth-round pick.

In four games with Baltimore, Peters has intercepted two passes, returning both for touchdowns. He is the first player in NFL history to record a pick-six with two teams in a single season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Asked if this game means anything more to him, Peters coyly responded, "What game? Yeah, the football game means a lot to me. That's why I play it."

Given that Rams safety and former Raven Eric Weddle has said he won't give out any Ravens intel, Peters was asked whether he shares the same loyalty with his former team.

"I just focus on us," Peters said. "We have a game to play on Monday night. We're just going to go out and do our business."

The Rams moved on from Peters just hours before acquiring cornerback Jalen Ramsey from the Jacksonville Jaguars. In 22 regular-season games in Los Angeles, Peters intercepted five passes, bringing back two for touchdowns.

"I love Marcus Peters," Rams coach Sean McVay said. "I can't say enough good things about my experience with him. We had a great relationship. He's a great football player, extremely smart. He has great ball skills, great instincts, and I really enjoyed our time together. I'm really happy to see how well he's done on a great team."

Peters immediately ingratiated himself with the Ravens, treating the defensive backs to a dinner in his first two weeks with the team. His addition has had a huge impact on Baltimore's defense.

In the first six weeks of the season without Peters, the Ravens ranked No. 23 in defensive efficiency. In four games with Peters, Baltimore is No. 1.

"I think he's a joy to be around," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "He can be very direct, and you can have an honest conversation about whatever it is coaching-wise and he's willing to listen."

Peters was businesslike in answering questions about returning to Los Angeles, but he did crack a smile when asked about how he plays the game.

"Football is 90% mental, 10% physical," Peters said. "I learned that from the 'Little Giants,' man."

Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett's indefinite suspension has been upheld and Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey's ban has been reduced to two games following appeals, the NFL announced Thursday.

The Garrett decision, made by appeals officer James Thrash, means he will be suspended without pay for at least the remainder of the 2019 season. Garrett will have to meet with the commissioner's office before being reinstated.

With seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of last Thursday's game, Garrett ripped off Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph's helmet and clubbed him in the head with it.

Garrett's suspension, which will be at least six games, is the longest in NFL history for a single on-field incident.

A source confirmed to ESPN that Garrett also was fined $45,623.

Pouncey initially had been given a three-game suspension last week for punching and kicking Garrett during the brawl, but appeals officer Derrick Brooks reduced the ban by a game while upholding his $35,096 fine.

He will still miss the Browns-Steelers rematch on Dec. 1.

During Garrett's appeal hearing in New York on Wednesday, Garrett alleged that Rudolph directed a racial slur at him just prior to the brawl, sources told ESPN's Josina Anderson and Adam Schefter.

Rudolph has denied the accusation, with a Steelers spokesman and Rudolph's lawyer releasing statements that the quarterback did not use a racial slur.

"This false allegation was never asserted by Garrett in the aftermath of the game, never suggested prior to the hearing, and conspicuously absent in the apology published by the Browns and adopted by Garrett," said Rudolph's attorney, Timothy M. Younger. "The malicious use of this wild and unfounded allegation is an assault on Mason's integrity which is far worse than the physical assault witnessed on Thursday. This is reckless and shameful. We will have no further comment."

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Thursday that the league looked into Garrett's allegations that Rudolph used a racial slur "and found no such evidence."‬

On Wednesday, Browns defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi's one-game suspension for shoving Rudolph in the back and to the ground was upheld by Thrash.

Information from ESPN's Jake Trotter was used in this report.