Zebra Blog

The league came down heavy, but did not suspend, Cowboys lineman Flozell Adams for a cheap shot that exploited a loophole in the rulebook. While the officials were forced to dismiss the yardage penalty, the league fined Adams $50,000 for his fifth fined offense this season and opted not to suspend him.

The league’s schedule of fines says that a flagrant personal foul carries a “suspension or fine, severity to be determined by degree of violation; the fine may be $10,000 or higher for first offense.” This text is stretching across the first- and second-offense columns on the chart of fines. Seems like the league went with the severe fine and multiplied it by the offense.

Week 10: Seahawks at Cardinals

Seahawks coach Jim Mora is petitioning the league on 17 plays in Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals, as reported by Danny O’Neil of The Seattle Times. While it is routine that coaches submit questionable calls to the league office, Mora said it was “probably three times as many as I have in any game.”

Mora would not elaborate on all of the plays, but apparently some disputed pass interference calls are part of the mix. Mora did note, however, that quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was gasping for air after a forearm was planted on his neck after being sacked. There was no roughness penalty called on the play.

Darnell Dockett, the player administering the offending forearm, was quick to respond on his Twitter feed, which we have detwitterfied for your reading enjoyment:

Dear Coach Mora: It’s football. Shit happens, and if you ever played the game you’d understand. Really, I would [not] try to hurt Matt. He’s a good guy.

Dockett was too fast to toss the four-letter word in there, but did not realize that he forgot the critical word not (which is followed by “*wouldnt” in his next tweet). We will know by Friday if the league feels that a fine happens, too.

Update, 11/21/09: Dockett was fined $7,500 for the hit.

Couple of stories of the NFL handing out fines for conduct:

• Backtracking to Week 9, Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was fined $20,000 for arguing a call with referee Ed Hochuli. Cutler was flagged for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Much like Chad Ochocinco’s $1 facetious bribe the same day, this is the standard first-offense fine for “verbal or other non-physical offense against [an] official.”
• Also in the Bears–Cardinals game, the Bears defensive lineman Tommie Harris, who was ejected on the third play of the game for what Hochuli described as “slugging” another player, was fined $7,500 (video at 0:19).  Because the Bears played a Thursday night game, the fines were not announced until after their Week 10 game.
• Finally, in a case of swift justice, Titans owner Bud Adams was fined $250,000 for obscene gestures launched from his luxury box towards the Bills sideline—or $125,000 for each finger. The incident happened at the end of Sunday’s game, with the fine being announced Monday morning. There was little dispute in the matter, as his double-barrelled salute was uploaded to YouTube.

Week 9: Ravens at Bengals

While on the sideline during a replay review, the Bengals’ Chad Ochocinco jokingly waived a $1 bill at an official. The league sees this as no laughing matter. Ochocinco was fined $20,000 for the incident. (He was not penalized in the game for those actions.)

As Chris Mortensen of ESPN first reported, an anonymous league contact said the league treated this as if it was serious:

The integrity of the game is critical to us. Making light of bribing and gambling will not be taken lightly. His action in itself merited the fine but he acknowledged by his comments that he knew what he was doing.

Officially, the league executive vice president of football operations, Ray Anderson, was fined for the following:

Abusive, threatening or insulting language or gestures toward game officials. He was also in violation of Rule 12, Section 3, Article 1 (f) of the Playing Rules which prohibits possession or use of extraneous objects that are not part of the uniform during the game on the field or sideline.

The $20,000 fine is listed by the league’s 2009 Schedule of Fines as “verbal or other non-physical offense against [an] official.” The second offense is $40,000.

Ochocinco seems undeterred, as he hinted at some kind of stunt planned for the Week 10 contest against the Steelers. From the Ocho Cinco News Network, otherwise known as his Twitter page:

Wait till you see what I do in Pittsburgh. Remember, I set aside fine fund before the season started; I’m just starting.

We’ll be watching.

Update 11/16/09: Two receptions for 29 yards. Meh.

Justice came swift for the Panthers Dante Wesley for his hit on Clifton Smith of the Buccaneers that we described as being like a runaway locomotive. (He was ejected for the hit with 10 seconds remaining in the second quarter.) We expected an announcement either today or tomorrow, but the NFL wasted no time in handing down judgment. He will be suspended without pay for next week’s game. The announcement from the NFL:

Defensive back Dante Wesley of the Carolina Panthers has been suspended without pay for one game by NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Ray Anderson for a flagrant violation of player safety rules.  Specifically, on a punt coverage play on Sunday, Wesley left his feet, launched himself and made shoulder and forearm contact with the neck and head area of Tampa Bay punt returner Clifton Smith, who had not caught or touched the ball and was in a defenseless posture.

The suspension will sideline Wesley for the Panthers’ game against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, October 25.

In a letter to Wesley, Anderson wrote: “The playing rules (Rule 10, Section 1, Article 1) specifically provide that a member of the kicking team is prohibited from interfering with a receiver attempting to catch an airborne kick.  The prohibited contact in this case went well beyond simply interfering with the receiver.  Instead, by striking your defenseless opponent in the head and neck area, you committed an unnecessary and unnecessarily dangerous act that is specifically prohibited by the rules.”

Anderson added: “Your actions are of particular concern in light of the emphasis that our office has placed on developing and enforcing rules designed to protect players from injury, including head and neck injuries.  The safety of our players is paramount to all of us in the NFL.”

Week 6: Panthers at Buccaneers

Dante Wesley of the Panthers was ejected for a flagrant hit on kick returner Clifton Smith of the Buccaneers. Smith called for a fair catch, and Wesley flattened him to the turf long before the ball even got there. It was penalized as both fair-catch interference and a personal foul, however the fair-catch signal is irrelevant in the fact that this was a malicious hit on a defenseless receiver. (video) Smith appeared to be knocked unconscious by the hit.

The ball immediately bounced out of bounds, allowing for a bench-clearing conference to develop around Wesley. The officials indicated multiple post-play penalties by throwing hats (to indicate a second penalty after his flag had been thrown), however all of these penalties were picked up.

Wesley will certainly be fined heavily for the hit, and we think that a suspension is likely. The last suspension for an on-field incident was Elbert Mack of the Buccaneers, who laid a helmet-to-helmet hit on Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. A suspension announcement would be likely on Tuesday.

As for the others involved in the brawl after the play, the league will be examining the videotape for those—particularly those who came off the sideline—to mete out fines later in the week.

Week 4: Ravens at Patriots

As we had expressed earlier, none of the Baltimore Ravens (most vocally, Ray Lewis) were fined for postgame commentary on the Patriots game. Since, again, the frustration was with the rules and not the officiating, I think it was wise for the league to not assess a monetary penalty in this situation.

Also of note from the game, which I caught on an NFL Network replay, was that Ravens coach John Harbaugh was assessed a rare sideline unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for comments he directed towards an official during the game.

Cowboys offensive tackle Flozell Adams may be fined for a third consecutive week in the three-week-old 2009 season—which, we believe, would be unprecedented. To date, Adams was fined $5,000 in the season opener for helmet contact against the Buccaneers. In the Week 2 Sunday Night Football game, Adams administered two leg whips, one of which knocked the Giants’ Justin Tuck to the ground, injuring Tuck’s shoulder. Adams was fined $12,500 for the flagrant personal fouls (the second one, which caused no injury, was not flagged).

Big Blue Interactive (on their message board, bonus: with video) points to a third instance where Adams tripped a Carolina Panthers defensive lineman, which was again not flagged by the crew. It is very subtle and away from the play, which is why it did not attract a yellow handkerchief.

Will the league garnish Adams’ pay for a third consecutive week? It should not the fact that the trip wound up being harmless, but that this is a repeat of a fined behavior from the previous week. But, for flagrant personal fouls, the league fine schedule merely states, “suspension or fine; severity to be determined by degree of violation; the fine may be $10,000 or higher for first offense.” So the league, using the injury to Tuck as reason to fine more, may have trouble assessing a fine under the criteria of “degree of violation.”

Update 9/30/09: The league dropped the fine hammer today, according to Todd Archer at The Dallas Morning News, to the tune of $7,500. That is $25,000 for three weeks—which is less than 10% of his weekly gross.

For his involvement in a sideline fight during the game with the Texans, Titans defensive tackle Jason Jones received a $5,000 fine. (He was also ejected from the game.) This is surprisingly light, as the disqualified Jones was shown pumping up the crowd for support on his way to the locker room. This is tantamount to criticizing the referee’s call, as he is looking to be applauded for his unsportsmanlike behavior. That alone merits higher discipline, considering Santonio Holmes’ Super Bowl XLIII touchdown celebration was fined $10,000 for another unsportsmanlike gesture.

The lower fine might be a result of the video of the game not clearly showing a punch being thrown. However, Jones clearly thrust himself into the situation and escalated it. The league’s Schedule of Fines lists “Unnecessarily Entering Fight Area (active involvement)” as a minimum of $5,000 on first offense, less than the $10,000 for fighting which would be assessed for a punch.

Update 9/25/09: The league is reporting two Texans were also fined. Jacoby Jones was fined $5,000 for entering a fight area as well. Andre Johnson, who was also flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play, was fined $7,500 for pulling a player to the ground by the facemask. Neither was ejected from the game.

Preseason Week 4: Cardinals at Broncos

No video to show, but the Associated Press reported that Cardinals offensive lineman Elton Brown bumped referee Mike Carey near the end of the first half of the final preseason game. He was ejected for the contact.

According to the story and his coach, the bump was inadvertant, however the ruling is not debatable. The league office should report any sanctions against Brown this week.

Update, Wed. 9/9/09: In an unrelated move, Brown was released by the Cardinals today.