Plain and simple, I seriously doubt there will be a suspension. I think that there will be a fine, just to satisfy those who write the rules so that they know their worth, but a suspension is out of the question IMO. The hit was not malicious, nor was his reaction following the hit.

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I read it on NFP last week. I forget which one of the players and fines I am referencing, because there were so many that they started to blend together.

In effect, the commish told the fined player that he is a defensive player, and therefore responsible for a helmet-to-helmet hit. Period.

I know that sounds unbelievable, but I'm telling you, that is what was said.

..Or said was said, it can be tough deciphering THAT shit, as we all know.

In other words, The "Mark Schlereth" defense be damned.

(Mark has repeatedly made the point about an offensive player's head not being in the same place from millisecond to millisecond, etc.)

It is not about the hit. It's about the "politics"... Is the commish planning to "escalate" enforcement this week? The curve is not favorable.

Fine- yes.
Suspension- hell no.

It was intended to be a hard hit, helmets hit...end of story. Usually players like on the Eagles are ones to celebrate after hurting a player. Collins was concerned for Williams after the hit, doesn't take away the wrong-doing, but shows class by Collins.
The worst part was it was the back of Roy's head...which could also lead to hitting a defenseless receiver???

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50K.. hard to argue with it, at least it is consistent. They still missed the Helmet jack early on Rodgers.

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That's a relief.

50 Grand fine PFT reports

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I'm glad they didn't suspend him, that would have been ridiculous. Looked to me like he was trying to hit him in the back with his shoulder pads. pack93z made a good point that a lot of us need to realize just how fast these guys move and that even being off by half an inch in your judgement might end up with the helmets making contact.

I think it is just getting completely out of hand. Some of the "helmet to helmet" hits have involved nothing but the shoulder pads or at least been a majority shoulder pads with just glancing contact with the helmet. They've also started calling touching the back of the quarterbacks head a personal foul now too. It happened last night on Manning and it happened with Favre several weeks ago against the Lions. If the whole point is player safety then why is grazing the back of a quarterbacks head with your fingertip a penalty. Honestly, if you are worried Manning or Favre will get injured from contact so benign and minimal that player has no business being out on the field playing a contact sport.

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I still don't see what was so terrible about that hit. It doesn't look to me like Collins was aiming for the head at all. Williams tucked his head defensively and the collision happened. I think the offensive players have to be held responsible for some of these collisions too, or else we're going to see receivers and running backs deliberately tucking their heads to draw fouls.

I agree with Collinsworth. If you're going to punish these plays, do so during the game. Eject the player; don't find him after the game.

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I was going to say the same thing about punishing the offense, nonstop.

The NFL really needs to start factoring intent. Merriweather gets fined 50k, and then Collins gets the same amt for that?!?!? I'll concede it was a late hit that warrants some sort of a fine, but 50k just like the hit on Heap? Bull shit!

I think that's a terrible idea. You implement that and you have that safety from Philly ejected for a play that in the end should not have been a penalty and wasn't a fine. The league has already fined and flagged a number of shoulder hits and those would end up as ejections too.

In my opinion, the league is already going too far with this and ejecting players for a single play is only going to escalate things more. You said yourself you're worried about offensive players ducking their heads to draw contact. If you eject players now you've got the potential for the same scenario you see in soccer with players diving to get defenders sent off.

For the record, I'm also against the idea of suspensions barring hits that are intentional or malicious in nature. Most of these have been accidental or stem from players going all out until the whistle.

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