The NFL league office hands down fines for player safety and sportsmanship related violations each week on Saturday. The physical matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Chargers did not escape the scrutiny of the league. There were three fines, including one suspension, given out, per the NFL Operations page.
Darnell Washington was fined $6,760 for an illegal crackback block. He told the media about this earlier in the week and said he was appealing the fine. Oftentimes, we do not end up hearing about the appeals unless in the case of a suspension. The play in question was at the start of the third quarter, and Washington cut block the edge defender. Nothing about the play looks worthy of a fine to me. If I had to guess, I would say it gets overturned. They were lined up directly across from each other, so I am not sure what constitutes a crackback block.
Here is the play with Washington on the right side of the video. No penalty flag was thrown on the play.
Derwin James was suspended, meaning he loses his next game check, for a hit on Pat Freiermuth with 4:28 remaining in the third quarter. The listing on the NFL operations page was for unnecessary roughness (use of helmet). He made helmet-to-helmet contact with Freiermuth as he was defenseless going to the ground. James’ base salary is $12,750,000, so one game check is $708,333.33.
The suspension was appealed, but upheld. Freiermuth reportedly vouched for James on the appeal call, saying he didn’t think it was a dirty hit. That didn’t have any bearing on the outcome of the suspension. Prior to the start of the season, NFL insider Adam Schefter reported that the NFL sent out memos to roughly 20 players stating that any further player safety violations would result in a suspension. It is possible James was one of those memos as normally this would just have been a fine.
Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh stated his displeasure with the suspension, saying Freiermuth was at fault for the way the hit was delivered. He doesn’t believe Freiermuth was defenseless.
Below is a clip of that play, which was penalized during the game.
Khalil Mack was fined for roughing the passer with a blow to the head/neck area for a play with 2:49 remaining in the third quarter. The fine amount is $16,883. That is consistent with a first-time offense fine, per the fines and appeals page on the NFL operations website. It is unknown if Mack tried to appeal this fine.
Here is a clip of the play, which was penalized during the game for roughing the passer.
All fines are donated to the Professional Athletes Foundation to help support legends in need as well as the NFL Foundation which supports health and safety of athletes at every level.
