Earlier this week, Steelers safety Ryan Clark said that the hit on Ravens tight end Ed Dickson that drew a $40,000 fine drew praise from coach Mike Tomlin in the film room.
Earlier today, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that Clark’s comments caught the attention of the league office. As they should have. Coaches continue to be the link between the players and the league office, and with players constantly carping about the league office, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that coaches either are failing to tell the players what they need to hear, or they are deliberately fomenting anger and frustration in order to ensure that the players are appropriately aggressive.
Regardless, there are no specific procedures in place to hold coaches accountable. Teams can be fined along with players who are fined, but there’s no mechanism for fining coaches.
Yet.
At some point, there needs to be a procedure for ensuring that coaches are properly respecting the league office’s rules. Based on Clark’s admission from Wednesday, it appears that at least one of them isn’t.