Fines are stacking up big for some players as they struggle to adjust to the new rules on hitting and at the same time play the game they know. So far this season, the Steelers have been fined 13 times for more than $182,000.
This past week, Steelers safety Ryan Clark was fined $40,000 for his hit on Baltimore tight end Ed Dickson and the previous week he was fined $15,000 for hitting Patriots Rob Gronkowski.
Clark has been out spoken about receiving the fines and has questioned whether his team is being targeted. The collision with Dickson, resulted in Clark being flagged for unnecessary roughness and a 15-yard penalty.
“There wasn’t anything malicious about it,” Clark said. “It wasn’t a spear. It wasn’t a forearm to the head. It wasn’t any of those things and to be fined $40,000 for that? To me it’s either targeting me as a single player or it’s targeting this team.”
Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis who was fined $20,000 for unnecessary roughness against Steelers Hines Ward said, “it won’t change not one way how I play this week no matter what the fine is. You can’t stop playing defense the way defense has always been created to play.”
Friday, Denver Broncos rookie linebacker Von Miller was fined $15,000 for his hit on Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer.
