Fines Hit Steelers With Confusion

Steelers Confused About Recent Fines

POSTED: 5:12 pm EDT October 15, 2008

UPDATED: 3:10 pm EDT October 16, 2008

PITTSBURGH -- Hines Ward has been penalized and fined for hits in the past. But, he was not flagged on the two plays this year when he was fined.

That has Ward, and a number of other Steelers, perplexed.

In the NFL some illegal plays are blatantly obvious and officials usually don't have a problem seeing something like a facemask or how a horse collar. But there's also a gray area when it comes to calling illegal plays. Ward said he's confused.

'"For us pretty much you come into work on Wednesday, you see a FedEx envelope in your locker and you know you're getting fined," Ward said.

For Ward and many other Steelers, the FedEx guy has been making too many deliveries on the south side.

Some of those fines are justified. Ryan Clark's big helmet-to-helmet hit cost him $7,500.

Ward however said he has no idea what he did wrong.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm not getting flagged for it," Ward said.

Each season, NFL officials meet coaches and players to outline new rules and clarify existing ones.

They even put out illustrations of what is prohibited.

But some players say that's not enough.

"If it's brought more to our attention on the field, then we will follow the guidelines. But if the officials aren't calling anything but were getting fined," said Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes.

The NFL even tells its officials to make a borderline call. The NFL rules committee handbook says "Whenever a game official is confronted with a potential unnecessary roughness situation and is in doubt about calling a foul, he should lean toward safety and not hesitate to throw the flag."

"I'm just waiting for to get a clarification back and actually the specific plays that they'd called me on for unnecessary roughness. I would like to know that," Ward said.

Ward said he knows a number of players in the NFL who have appealed fines, but he has never seen one overturned. At this point he said he's just hoping the money they take out of his pocket goes to a good charity.

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