FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-57              10/4/01

 

BROWNS’ GERARD WARREN & RAIDERS’ ELIJAH ALEXANDER
FINED FOR HITS ON QUARTERBACKS

 

Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Gerard Warren has been fined $35,000 and Oakland Raiders linebacker Elijah Alexander has been fined one game check for their respective hits on quarterbacks in games played September 30.

Both players were fined by NFL Director of Football Operations Gene Washington, who administers discipline for player-against-player violations.

Warren was fined $35,000 for both unnecessary contact on a passer after a change of possession and unnecessary roughness in the Browns’ game against Jacksonville.  In addition to the fine, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has instructed Warren to meet with him and senior director of officiating Mike Pereira in New York on Tuesday, October 9, to review both this play and the League’s playing rules on these matters.  Commissioner Tagliabue has told the Browns organization that an assistant coach also should be present for the meeting.

Washington said in a letter to Warren that his hit on Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell was “a violation of Rule 12, Section 2 Article 11(7), which states that a passer ‘must not be unnecessarily contacted by the defense…in the event of a change of possession on the play, until the passer assumes a distinctly defensive position.’

“Your hit also violates Rule 12, Section 2 Article 8, which states that there ‘shall be no unnecessary roughness.’ Your hit on Brunell…was plainly both violent and unnecessary under the circumstances.  The hit could not be justified by Brunell’s place on the field relative to the play itself, nor by any action taken by Brunell following the change of possession.  Indeed, Brunell at most took a tentative step toward the play; it was hardly necessary for you to race across the field at top speed and strike him in the most dangerous possible way.”

Alexander was fined one game check for unnecessary roughness, using the helmet to butt, spear or ram an opponent violently or unnecessarily, and hitting a player in a “defenseless posture.”  Alexander hit Seattle Seahawks quarterback Trent Dilfer helmet-to-helmet after Dilfer released a pass near the sideline.

In a letter to Alexander, Washington said that Alexander’s hit “violates Rule 12, Section 2 Article 8, which states that there ‘shall be no unnecessary roughness.’  More specifically, however, it violates the often-emphasized rule which prohibits ‘using any part of a player’s helmet . . . to butt, spear or ram an opponent violently or unnecessarily . . ..’  As is well-known within the League, under these rules ‘special attention’ is given ‘to protecting players who are in virtually defenseless postures,’ including specifically ‘a player in the act of or just after throwing a pass. . ..’ Your hit on Dilfer involved direct contact with your helmet, and was plainly both violent and unnecessary under the circumstances.”