NFL gives five-figure fines to four coaches, including Pete Carroll and Sean Payton
Usually the NFL likes to pick the pockets of players with enormous fines. The league showed it finds equal opportunity in all of its heavily inflated fines, punishing four coaches this week.
Two head coaches and two assistant coaches got fined $10,000 each, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and Jacksonville Jaguars assistants Keenan McCardell and Pat Flaherty were fined for improperly coming on the field during last week’s game, which ended in a melee. New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton was penalized 15 yards at a critical juncture of last Thursday’s game for coming on the field to call a timeout, and he was fined $10,000 for coming on the field.
The NFL tightened its rules on when coaches could be on the field, and disallowed assistant coaches be on the field entirely, after a controversial moment in a Pittsburgh Steelers-Cincinnati Bengals playoff game in which Bengals cornerback Adam Jones shoved Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter.
The NFL said in a memo this week there would be “significant” punishment for offensive conduct against or contact with game officials. While this doesn’t seem to be related, it’s rare to see coaches get fined like this and it’s a message about their behavior during games.
And it’s a pretty good bet that you won’t see any coaches wandering out on the field this week, or they might get a hefty fine as a result.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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