The NFL has fined Packers cornerback Tramon Williams $26,250 for contact with an official during Green Bay’s Thanksgiving loss at Detroit.
The amount is the same as Vikings cornerback Chris Cook was fined for contact with an official this week, so that’s apparently the going rate in the NFL for putting your hands on a ref. Cook was ejected from the Vikings’ game against the Bears; Williams was given a 15-yard penalty but surprisingly not ejected.
Williams said after the game that he didn’t realize what he was doing: According to Williams, he was upset that a Lions player bumped him while celebrating a touchdown, and he thought he was shoving a Lion away, not realizing that back judge Dino Paganelli had come between them.
“The referee must have come and just walked right in front of me and grazed me,” Williams said. “I don’t know if he was trying to hold me or what. He just grazed me and I kind of knocked his arm off me. I was already frustrated. It was just an emotion thing.”
Williams said today that he will appeal, adding, “Hopefully they give me some money back.” But it’s hard to see why they would. Putting your hands on an official is one thing the NFL doesn’t tolerate.