We noted this week that Texans safety Danieal Manning drew one of the more ridiculous penalties of Week One, getting called for a hit on Colts receiver Pierre Garcon even though Manning went out of his way to avoid contact.
But we have some good news: The NFL has confirmed to PFT that Manning was not fined.
Although the NFL always avoids calling out the officials, not fining Manning is a tacit acknowledgment that the official who threw the flag on Manning screwed up. If Manning’s hit on Garcon had really merited a penalty, it also would have merited a fine.
So we’re glad to see that the league office recognized that Manning did nothing wrong. Now we’ll hope the officials don’t throw any more flags this year on defensive backs who are going out of their way not to hit defenseless receivers. But we won’t be holding our breath.