I think the refs made a call as they saw it on the field. It looks like a bad hit, and if it was only seen from the back or possibly sides, it looked like a hit to the neck. Now, the NFL fining him is fucking stupid. Watching the replay and seeing what actually happened shows clearly it wasn't an illegal hit.
Brees can cry a river and "know it was a penalty". Yeah, I knew it was a penalty as soon as it happened as well; you could clearly tell because a QB that had a large contract got touched by some brigand on the other team.
I wish a player would refuse the fine. If it were me, I'd tell them "Kick me out of the league then. It wasn't a bad hit, and I am not paying for doing what you told me to do."
Exactly, and I am not blaming the refs, though...its the NFL for issuing a fine.
Ray Lewis better pony up 8 grand because he did say he'll pay half.
The last thing the NFL needs is Brees going down. This stinks of collusion because the owners have clearly gotten together with the Commish's office and have agreed to not let star QBs go down, even at the expense of hosing the game and others players.
We have Bradford, Rogers, Cutler, P Manning nearly going down last week, Locker, and a few others that are out, or was close to being out (including Brees) and it isn't a coincidence that they're going to tighten the rules during the offseason in the same year big time players are out.
Ever since the Brady rule, it has just snowballed.