When the league office imposes a fine for an on-field hit, we typically don’t find out about the outcome of the appeal.
When the hit in question was controversial, we typically do.
Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports that the $10,000 fine imposed on Jets guard Matt Slauson for taking out the knee of Texans linebacker Brian Cushing was upheld via the third-party appeal process.
Cushing suffered a torn ACL on the play.
Mehta doesn’t mention whether the appeal was handled by Ted Cottrell or Art Shell, both of whom are jointly hired and compensated by the NFL and the NFLPA.
The outcome is a little surprising, given that Slauson wasn’t flagged and that Slauson appeared to hit the front of Cushing’s knee. If so, it wouldn’t have been an illegal “peel back” block.
The league is expected to beef up the protections of defensive players for low hits at the annual meetings later this month.