Mike Tomlin Fined 100k For Getting in the Fucking Way

NFL – Pittsburgh Steelers head coach MIKE TOMLIN has been fined $100,000 for interfering with a play in progress during last Thursday night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens. In addition, because the conduct affected a play on the field, a modification or forfeiture of draft choices will be considered after the final order of the 2014 draft has been determined. The discipline was issued by NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations RAY ANDERSON. With 6:26 remaining in the third quarter, Baltimore’s JACOBY JONES returned a kickoff 73 yards to the Pittsburgh 27. During the return, Tomlin – in violation of Rule 13, Section 1, Article 4 of the NFL Rule Book – was in the restricted white border that surrounds the playing field and stepped foot onto the playing field during the play. Tomlin’s positioning in the white border during play should have resulted in a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

While the fine makes sense, I thought for sure Tomlin would get suspended for this. Because when it comes down to it, I think every coach in the league would pay 100k for a win. And that’s what Tomlin was doing even though he absolutely sucked at it. So completely taking him off the sidelines to send a message to the rest of the coaches would have been the best approach. But why would Goodell start making sense with fines and suspensions now? You can head hunt all day every day and get a 20k fine, Ndamukong Suh has never been suspended and he has done HHH-esque low-blows on the field, but the Steelers might lose a draft pick for Tomlin’s sorta-interference. The NFL makes so little sense to me in that regard. It’s like they have manatees in a tank picking up idea balls on how to penalize players and coaches. A referee got suspended for a game for calling Trent Williams a fat ass. Mind blowing.

While I’m glad Tomlin got fined for being a piece of shit, I don’t blame him for being one there. If you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying. Rooney will sneaky give him a briefcase of 100 dollar bills and pay the fine. (That has to happen all the time with fines, right? Owners paying them off the books?)

PS: Jason Kidd getting fined 50k for spilling his soda is laughable. Like, in comparison, Kidd changed the game 1:10th of how Tomlin did, but got fined 50% of the amount. That is just the epitome of how much this season for Jason Kidd blows- he can’t even get fined properly.