During one of the brief moments in last Sunday’s Giants-Saints game when one of the two quarterbacks wasn’t throwing one of their 13 combined touchdown passes, Saints running back Mark Ingram took a shot from Giants defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins after he went out of bounds with the football.
There wasn’t a flag for a late hit, although part of the reason for that might have been that Hankins wasn’t in the game at the time. The NFL fined him $8,681 this week for his troubles.
The NFL felt Hankins lowered his shoulder into Ingram to deliver the blow, something that’s hard to miss on video. Hankins told Art Stapleton of the Bergen County Record that he was bracing himself for the hit rather than trying to lay Ingram out. Hankins plans to appeal the fine.
Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News reports that Saints cornerback Brandon Browner was fined the same amount for unnecessary roughness. Browner was penalized for hitting Giants wide receiver Rueben Randle out of bounds and drew three other flags during the game. He has been responsible for 15 accepted penalties this season.