Barber expected to appeal $30K fine
Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber inadvertently hit an official Sunday. Wednesday, the NFL hit back.
FOXSports.com has learned that the league has fined the All-Pro corner a whopping $30,000 for striking official Butch Hannah during a scuffle in Sunday's loss to the Jets.
Barber, who has only been fined one time by the league in his NFL career, was hit with the staggering total as a result of a punch that Barber threw at Jets center Kevin Mawae, but which struck Hannah instead.
After the game, Barber said his intention was not to strike the official, but to defend himself and swat Mawae's hand off of his facemask.
"The guy (Mawae) outweighs me by about 120 pounds," Barber said at the time. "I was afraid he was going to rip my head off. I was just trying to get his hand off my facemask. I'd never try to hit an official. Everybody knows that's not me."
The fine is somewhat surprising, considering last week, the league slapped Chargers cornerback Drayton Florence with only a $15,000 fine when he threw a forearm shiver into the ribs of an official out of frustration at a call — an action that the league viewed as intentional.
Barber doubled Florence's fine, yet his actions were largely viewed as unintentional. The difference, however, was that Barber's shot dropped the ref and appeared much worse to the viewer.
Barber is expected to appeal the fine.
Posted at 03:25 pm by jason1970