Andre Johnson and Cortland Finnegan each received $25,000 for their roles in a fight during Sunday’s Texans win over the Titans, but neither player will be suspended for the incident, according to multiple reports.
Johnson and Finnegan were both ejected from Sunday’s game after exchanging blows midway through the fourth quarter. The two quickly became entangled at the end of a play with Johnson ripping off Finnegan’s helmet, then Finnegan responding in kind and throwing Johnson’s helmet several yards away. Johnson then punched Finnegan multiple times before officials stepped in.
After the game, Johnson apologized to the Texans organization and fans, saying, “I just lost my cool and I wish that I could take back what happened, but I can’t.”
Finnegan has been fined several times by the NFL in the past, while Johnson had a relatively clean record — he was fined $7,500 last season for throwing Finnegan to the ground by his face mask. Both players could have been suspended under NFL rules.
But instead, they will each deal with what is, in reality, a fairly small penalty — to put it in some perspective, Philadelphia’s Will Witherspoon was recently fined $40,000 for a hit on Washington Football Team quarterback Donovan McNabb, while James Harrison was tagged was a $75,000 fine for knocking out Cleveland’s Mohamed Massaquoi with a helmet-to-helmet shot and $20,000 for a hit on Drew Brees.
All of those penalties fell under the NFL’s crackdown on dangerous plays, however. The fight between Johnson and Finnegan apparently did not, leading to the minimal fines.
