As the hitting gets harder, the fines get higher, and maybe vice versa. The NFL is walking a tightrope again, trying to police the very violence the game sells.
In one week, three safeties were fined unprecedented amounts and reprimanded for helmet-to-helmet collisions that put two receivers in the hospital. The message doesn’t seem to register. The hits were defended by coaches and questioned by defensive players who believe they are just doing their jobs.
All came after Denver safety Kenoy Kennedy was suspended a game for knocking out Miami receiver Chris Chambers on Oct. 13. Kennedy has been fined $42,794.11 this season, nearly 10 percent of his $430,000 base salary.
“This is crazy,” he said. “I’m just out there playing football. They’re taking away from me and my wife and our future.”
Dallas safety Darren Woodson was hit with a $75,000 fine for ramming Seattle receiver Darrell Jackson, who sustained a concussion and subsequent seizure after the game that terrified Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren.
“The simple fact of the matter is, Darrell [could have] died,” Holmgren said. “Now, is anything worth that?”
Of the three hits in question, however, Woodson’s appeared the cleanest. Jackson had the ball, so Woodson was not taking a cheap shot. Woodson hit first with his shoulder pad, but his helmet glanced off Jackson’s helmet, a violation that is practically impossible to avoid in such a high-speed contact sport. The All-Pro Woodson complained that after 11 years in the league he is puzzled about proper tackling technique.
Woodson didn’t appear to be illegally “spearing” Jackson as Philadelphia safety Brian Dawkins did to New York Giants receiver Ike Hilliard, knocking him out for the season. Hilliard sustained a separated shoulder and tears of the labrum and pectoralis muscle. Dawkins was docked $50,000.
Dawkins did acknowledge that he saw the ball hit the ground and should have pulled up on Hilliard. Jim Johnson, the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, didn’t know if Dawkins could have.
“We know there are going to be aggressive plays and all of the sudden there is going to be a train wreck and it’s hard to stop a train sometimes,” Johnson said. “I know Brian is going to go 100 m.p.h. . . . It’s hard for him to put on the brakes. When those hits happen clean, the players get excited about them. You don’t want to see anyone get hurt.”
San Diego safety Rodney Harrison lost an appeal of a one-game suspension for decking Oakland receiver Jerry Rice in the end zone. Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer wasn’t happy.
“The process is flawed because they call you and tell you you’re guilty, and they say, `Now, on the basis of being guilty, you can appeal,'” Schottenheimer said. “What is the likelihood that after you’re deemed guilty you’re going to win on appeal?
“I think they should go into it on the basis that we have information that indicates you may have committed a violation, and we’d like to get your perspective on this. That might move closer to what I would consider to be due process.”
Harrison will lose one game check totaling nearly $112,000. The suspension is the first of his nine-year career, but he has been disciplined or fined by the league on 10 other occasions. His fines total nearly $230,000.
“We’re not going to tolerate hits that go over the line, especially after players have been warned on repeated occasions and coaching staffs have been warned on repeated occasions,” NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said.
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The man in charge of fines is Gene Washington, former San Francisco receiver. Former Raiders player and coach Art Shell was recently hired to review appeals.
The league knows two-handed touch football never will attract a billion-dollar television contract. Defensive players complain about a loss of livelihood, but all the league is really trying to do is keep everybody alive in a vicious sport.
Drawing Drew: New England coach Bill Belichick gets to reap the first installment of what he sowed when he chose Tom Brady and traded Drew Bledsoe within the division to Buffalo. Bledsoe is the league passing leader for the 5-3 Bills. Brady is struggling with the 3-4 Patriots.
What can Belichick say?
“We made the decision last year that we thought was the best decision for the football team. I think Tom Brady’s a good quarterback, I’m glad he’s our quarterback, and we’ll move forward from there.”
The Patriots will get the Bills’ No. 1 draft pick next year. Bledsoe would like nothing more than to make it a low first-rounder.
Four of the past five meetings between the Bills and Patriots have been decided in overtime.
Explosive Deuce: This is the definition of a big-play player: New Orleans running back Deuce McAllister has five runs of at least 46 yards. No other back in the league has more than one.
Mrs. Alyne Payton, Walter’s mother, said last week after watching Emmitt Smith break Payton’s rushing record that McAllister, a former Mississippi runner, has made a promise to her.
“Deuce told me he would bring [the record] back to Mississippi,” said Mrs. Payton, a Mississippi native.
Barry the legend: Had Smith not broken Payton’s record last week, he would have been facing the task in Detroit, where the Cowboys would just as soon not tread on Barry Sanders’ turf. Smith has acknowledged that Sanders would have caught Payton had Sanders not abruptly quit after the 1998 season.
Lions defensive end Robert Porcher believes Sanders’ decision was calculated to enhance his legend, forcing people to wonder, “What if?”
“That’s my theory, and I told him that,” Porcher said. “I saw him a year ago. I told him, `I’ve got you figured out.’
“Sooner or later, whether it’s 15 or 20 years from now, somebody will come along and break [the record]. Emmitt will be the second-leading rusher. Then, when that’s broken again, he’ll be third. He’ll go down.
“But Barry will always be linked to whoever has the record. And I told him that. He just gave me a sly smile.”