Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews drew a fine for his hit on Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in the NFC Championship Game.
NFL players’ tradition of monetarily giving back to the league continued yesterday. Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews was slapped with a fine for his hit on Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in the second quarter of Sunday’s NFC Championship game.
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During the second quarter of the Seattle Seahawks’ improbable 28-22 victory over the Green Bay Packers, Wilson threw the second of his four interceptions, this one into the hands of Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. His reward was a blindside block from Clay Matthews that sent him into the Planes of Oblivion.
Matthews was penalized fifteen yards for the hit, and now drawn a fine from the league, according to USA Today’s Tom Pelissero.
The play hurt Green Bay’s field position by bringing them back to their own territory, and a few short plays later the team gave the ball back to Seattle on an Aaron Rodgers interception. The interception did little to change the 16-0 score, but it stands as a missed opportunity in a game full of such occurrences for the Packers.
This is not the first time Matthews has been fined for an illegal hit on a quarterback. During a Week 1 game against the San Francisco 49ers in 2013, Matthews was flagged and fined $15,000 for a late clothesline hit on Colin Kaepernick that occurred several yards out of bounds.
This fine from last Sunday comes off the heels of a $20,000 fine for Seahawks halfback Marshawn Lynch, enforced for a celebratory grab of his crotch following his fourth quarter touchdown. Along with another fine for the same celebration against the Arizona Cardinals earlier this year, the total cost for Marshawn Lynch crotch grabs this season has risen to $31,050 — the average salary of a public school teacher.
Lynch was also threatened with ejection from Sunday’s game for possibly wearing gold cleats. On top of this, Marshawn Lynch also drew a $100,000 fine for failing to speak to reporters. Fortunately the league was able to force Lynch to provide insightful one-word answers to an enraptured media.
Although there may be disagreement on whether or not the penalty on Matthews was deserved, the nature of the fine is indicative of the NFL’s priorities of image over safety. This is not a new indictment against the NFL, which makes its repetition worse rather than less relevant.
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