The first Arizona Cardinals player has been disciplined after a game as linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. was assessed a $11,255 fine for getting in the face and taunting Los Angeles Rams running back Kyren Williams in the fourth quarter with the score 41-10.
Wilson reacted to Williams throwing him to the ground after a Dennis Gardeck sack that resulted in a fumble by quarterback Matthew Stafford. Wilson was trying to block Williams as defensive lineman L.J. Collier was running after recovering the loose ball. Williams was not fined.
Defensive coordinator Nick Rallis said earlier this week it didn’t matter that the game was in hand or that Williams was the instigator.
“We don’t ever want to have 15-yard penalties,” Rallis said. “That’s putting you before the team. So, Mack knows that he shouldn’t have done that. We talk about emotional regulation and there’s a sweet spot to be in because you don’t want to be too flat, but you also don’t want your RPMs to be so high that you start to lose sight of what’s important, focused performance. You don’t want to be too sympathetic, you don’t want to be too parasympathetic.
“So, we call it the emotional pendulum: Your highest highs will be your lowest low. So you gotta find a sweet spot in there to where you play energetic, you play with high motor, you play violently, but you also are able to think and process. And ultimately that’s going to get your best performance.”
Asked about the game situation, Rallis added, “You don’t know when that is, right? You can say it didn’t hurt us because of the situation in the game. But that could be a critical situation. So we got to learn that that’s not how we behave, it’s not how we do things in the game, but also on the practice field. JG’s very good with that as far as things that he considers non-negotiables that he never wants to happen in a game. He doesn’t allow them to happen on the practice field either. So you have to practice that way and constantly live it.”
Finally, asked about possible instigation, Rallis concluded, “I think you see it all over the league. It’s definitely hard. You’re going after each other every play, but you just have to have the, like I said, the emotional regulation to know that you got to put the team first, even if you want to retaliate. Maybe he felt like he did something, but you have to be able to put the team first and control that.”
Plus, it led to taking money out of his pocket.
There was a Rams player fined in the game. It came on a play earlier in the fourth quarter when defensive lineman Desjuan Johnson tackled running back Trey Benson. Upon review, it was considered a hip-drop violation and drew a fine of $5,101. There was no penalty on the play.
There were three other hip-drop fines in the NFL in Week 2 and none were penalized during the game.
Overall, there were 30 fines league-wide for a total of $349,030 with 20 of at least $10,000. The largest was $31,599 against Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase for verbal abuse of an official. Chase believed Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie was guilty of a hip-drop that wasn’t penalized. McDuffie was not fined.
Of the 30 fines assessed, there wasn’t a penalty called on 16. In Week 1, there were no flags on 13 of 22 plays that were fined.
In two weeks, there have been 52 fines totaling $596,177.
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