National Football League games are always accompanied by great intensities and hardboiled emotions. And going by the inherent physical nature of the sport, fights can easily break out during the game, leading to on-field scuffles between the players and even the coaches. In fact, contrary to other sports where most brawls occur between opposing players and teams, the NFL brawls are a commonplace even amongst teammates.
Of course, brawls and fights are part of NFL betting and, in moderation, they can bring good team building experiences and bit of some fun-to-watch fisticuffs. However, the Aftermath of such incidences is often bad, as the victims constantly face fines, ejections from the game and life bans. The rundown below includes some of the most notable NFL brawls in recent time.
Santana Moss vs. Corey Webster, September 2009
The pair received $5,000 fines for this scuffle that came during the season opener in 2009. None of the players was ejected, instead, the officials issued offsetting penalties.
Redskins vs. Falcons, November 2009
In this incident, the Redskins unnecessarily hit a young Matt Ryan as he was headed out of bounds, sparking a huge skirmish between the two teams. This brawl resulted into a bunch of fines that included $15,000 for Falcons coach Mike Smith for yelling at Redskins players, $5,000 for Albert Haynesworth, who was the third man in the fight, $7,500 for Laron Landry for the hit that instigated the brawl, and $2,500 for Falcons trainer Jeff Fish, who apparently got some kicks in the brawl.
Deangelo Hall vs. Brandon Jacobs, December 2009
Months after finding himself in the middle of Washington-Atlanta brawl, Redskins’ cornerback Deangelo Hall was at the center of another fight. This time, he was involved with the New York Giants’ player Brandon Jacobs. Although he escaped a fine from the NFL, Jacobs was never lucky as he received a $7,500 fine for unnecessary roughness while Albert Haynesworth was slapped with a $10,000 fine for unsportsmanlike conduct during the incident.
Donald Penn vs. Jared Allen, October 2012
This fight took place when the defensive end Jared Allen played for the Vikings while offensive tackle Donald Penn represented the Bucs. The skirmish started when Penn continually pushed and grabbed Allen after the whistle, and in response, Allen pushed and grabbed back. A couple of minutes thereafter, the two players roughened up each other and the result was Allen come out with a bloodied nose. Interestingly, Allen found his revenge in an intelligent way, blowing right by Penn on the next play and sacking Tennessee’s QB.
Bengals vs. Raiders, November 2012
This brawl was triggered by a late hit on the Bengals QB Andy Dalton in the fourth quarter by the Oakland’s Lamarr Houston. Cincinnati’s Andrew Whitworth took exception, deciding to sort out the situation through fighting. In the long run, Whitworth and Houston were both ejected, as was the Raiders’ Tommy Kelly. In the end, four Oakland players–Desmond Bryant, Matt, Shaughnessy, Houston, Kelly—along with Cincy’s Whitworth, were all handed out a fine of $26,500 by the NFL.
Washington vs. Eagles, September 2014
Following a cheap shot from Chris Baker to Philly’s QB Nick Foles, Eagles offensive tackle Jason Peters decided to confront Baker in retaliation. That, in turn, led to an intense brawl near the Redskins’ bench that saw Baker and Peter ejected from the game. One cannot really blame Philly players on this occasion as they were trying to protect their QB. Still, the league found everyone involved in the fight guilty, handing a $10,000 fine to Peters and $8,268 fine to Baker.
NFL.com (http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d814236c6/article/falcons-coach-smith-fined-15k-for-melee-two-skins-also-punished)
ESPN.com (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/5651/jared-allen)