San Francisco 49ers’ Vic Fangio thinks quarterbacks should be fined

Donte Whitner, ok Hitner, was fined $21K last week for a hit on St. Louis Rams wide receiver Chris Givens.  San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator Vic Fangio thinks that is a bunch of malarkey.

“I’ve always said, they’re fining these people for these hits,” Fangio said ironically Thursday according to CSN Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco, “they should be fining the quarterbacks for throwing these guys into those big hits.”

“The angles I’ve seen so far, it looked like a good play,” Fangio said. “He did not lead with his head. It looked to me like he jolted the guy pretty good in his shoulder with his shoulder. And the guy’s head snapped (back) because of the impact of the hit, which made it look like an illegal hit. So they threw the flag.”

“A lot of times, the flag is being thrown because it looks that way. I would wish they’d do a better job in that. They need to err on the correct side, not the safe side. Because if it’s an illegal hit, the guy will get fined on Monday or Tuesday.”

Take a look at the hit, it really doesn’t look dirty at all, and please ignore the annoying computer voice, it’s all I could find.

Some of these hits need to be examined more closely by officials and the NFL.  The rate at which people are being flagged and fined this season is seemingly overly cautious.  Fangio has a legit gripe.