GREEN BAY ā Jermichael Finley will appeal the $15,750 fine the NFL levied against him Friday after the Green Bay Packers tight end leveled Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs with a block during the Packers' 19-17 victory last Sunday in Baltimore.
Finley was officially informed of the fine on Friday, he said, and that he indeed will appeal.
"I really don't care about it, but just the fact that if was a play where I was trying to do it, I'd take the fine, but I won't take it," Finley said in the locker room after practice Friday. "It was first quarter. It was a good (hit), too."
Finley later voiced his displeasure about the fine on his Twitter account.
The play came on the last play of the first quarter, when running back Johnathan Franklin was stopped for a loss on a third-and-1 toss to the right. Finley comes in motion on the play into the slot and drills Suggs, hitting Suggs in the facemask with his shoulder pad. It does appear on replay that Finley does lift upward into Suggs. The NFL, per a spokesman, fined Finley for "unnecessarily striking a defenseless player in the head and neck area."
Meanwhile, Ravens safety Matt Elam was not fined for the low hit to wide receiver Randall Cobb's leg that resulted in Cobb's fractured fibula, which will keep the Packers' leading pass-catcher out for at least eight weeks. Packers guard T.J. Lang also was not fined for his personal foul penalty in the wake of that play, when Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers angrily confronted Elam for his hit and Lang pushed him.
Jason Wilde wrote: