League doles out fines for Week 1

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

Safeties Madieu Williams of Washington, Taylor Mays of Cincinnati and Rahim Moore of Denver have been fined $21,000 each by the NFL for unnecessary roughness in Week 1.

Williams made helmet-to-helmet contact with Jimmy Graham when the Saints' tight end was defenseless with about three minutes remaining in Sunday's game at New Orleans. Mays did the same to Baltimore tight end Ed Dickson in a Monday night game. Rahim unnecessarily struck defenseless Steelers receiver Emmanuel Sanders in the head and neck area Sunday night.

Houston defensive end Antonio Smith says he's been fined $21,000 for kicking Miami guard Richie Incognito.

Smith missed two practices this week with a sore right ankle. He says he was only retaliating when Incognito tried to twist his ankle after the whistle.

The Texans (1-0) play at Jacksonville (0-1) on Sunday. Smith practiced on Friday, and coach Gary Kubiak expects him to play against the Jaguars.

Smith said he's "disappointed" in the fine and plans to appeal. Smith was fined $7,500 last season for pulling off Baltimore guard Andre Gurode's helmet in a game against the Ravens.

"If you're going strictly by the rule book, me kicking him was breaking the rules," Smith said Friday. "But I want them (the NFL) to look at why I was kicking him, trying to get him off of my ankle. You see on the film, the moment my ankle came free, I stopped. I was just trying to get my ankle free from him mauling it."

Incognito said he was innocent of wrongdoing and argued videotape supported his contention. The NFL agreed: He wasn't fined.

"The eye in the sky doesn't lie," Incognito said Thursday.

Drawing $15,750 fines were Minnesota defensive end Everson Griffen for helmet-to-helmet contact with Jacksonville quarterback Blaine Gabbert, and Dallas tackle Tyron Smith for a horse collar tackle (Smith's fine was reported Thursday). Vikings defensive tackle Letroy Guion was fined $7,875 for roughing Gabbert.

Kansas City running back Shaun Draughn was fined $7,875 for unnecessary roughness against Atlanta, while Miami center Mike Pouncey drew the same amount for the same act against Houston.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print
• Subscribe