My Hines Ward Blog

The NFL told many of the Pittsburgh Steelers star players that the NFL is not trying to make Hines Ward the subject of fines. The meeting was not common because it's rare that the league has a meeting during the season to discuss fines.

NFL executive vice president Ray Anderson repeatedly told Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, and head coach Mike Tomlin during a closed door meeting that was unannounced that their team is not being pointed out for discipline problems. Every team has discipline problems from time to time.
Now the Steelers can go on like nothing happened.

Ray Anderson and the Steelers now understand the fines the NFL gave to Hines Ward in the past weeks.

During the past two weeks, four Steelers players were fined a total of $50,000. That's including $15,000 in fines to Ward for two plays that weren't penalized on the field. That doesn't make sense to me. If there wasn't a penalty flag thrown for either infraction, then why is the league punishing them with fines? It sounds like they are singling the Steelers out to me. The NFL has given out 139 fines this season. The fines were supposed to improve player safety and conduct and no other reason.

"The meeting gave us a chance to get on the same page and, for lack of a better term, clear the air so this club could move on very confident that our interests are aligned with theirs and vice versa," Anderson said.

Ward said the meeting "gave us a better understanding of why the NFL imposes fines. They told us their side and we explained our side. We have a better understanding and that's all you can ask for. We're on the same page now."

Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers QB, was among James Farrior and Ward while the meeting was taking place.

The meeting came about after Ward's fines caused Steelers chairman Dan Rooney to write and Tomlin to call the league office for clarification.

The unfined Polamalu spoke out against the numerous fines being levied this season. He argued the league was taking the physicality out of a game he said was becoming "two-hand touch" and "flag football."

"Given the discussion last week and some of the comments that were made by the players with regard to the genuineness and sincerity of our player safety initiatives, we just felt it made sense to come here and to engage directly with coach Tomlin and the players so we could talk things over and listen to them express their concerns about what we're doing," said Anderson, the league's executive vice president of football operations.

Tomlin felt the meeting was productive, saying, "I think that's the start at laying this thing to bed and moving on and focusing on what we should focus on and that's playing football games."
Anderson emphasized that an on-field penalty isn't required for a player to be fined.

"You've got seven officials at same-time speed, they're not going to catch everything," Anderson said. "We are particularly concerned about player safety violations and we will fine you even though you haven't been flagged."

Ward learned from Anderson that he won't be fined for a hit that broke the jaw of Keith Rivers.

Writer and editor, Freddie Brister, is a former high school football coach of 25 years. His love of the game of football is reflected in his words and memories of growing up in the South and playing football in the back yard with his brother, cousins and neighborhood friends. His biggest thrill is watching former high school players he has coached play at the college level. His favorite pastime is watching NFL football on tv and attending the games in person every chance he gets. Freddie Brister is a huge fan of the NFL and the Pittsburgh Steelers.