As the latest entry in the long, largely one-sided rivalry between the New England Patriots and their AFC East rivals about 200 miles to the southwest, the New York Jets, the Week 11 Thursday Night Football game was a definite anticlimax. The Patriots came away with the victory as they have 17 times in their last 20 meetings â and 76 times in the 133-game history of the regional rivalry.
This time, the win was a relatively smooth one for the Patriots as they cruised to a 27-14 victory, extending their win streak to eight games and raising their NFL-best (tied with the Denver Broncos) record to 9-2. New England’s sophomore quarterback Drake Maye threw for 281 yards, raising his league-leading yardage total to 2,836.
But the game was not without incident, and the NFL as of Saturday has handed down decisions on how a pair of transgressions will be dealt with in terms of financial punishments â or not â to two players, one on each team.
Jets Player Escapes NFL Punishment
One action, a WWE-style body slam by Jets cornerback Jarvis Browlee Jr. â playing in just his sixth game for New York since he was traded from the Tennessee Titans on September 23 â drew a flag on the field for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty.
But NFL Operations Department officials, who say they review every play in every game to determine whether discipline is warranted regardless of any penalty call in real time, decided that the late hit was not worthy of any further discipline.
As a result, Brownlee escaped any fine for the play.
Hollins Hit With Significant Fine
On the other hand, Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins was slammed with a fine of $20,278 â the second-largest assessment of any of the 23 fines handed down the league office for Week 11 â for an alleged “use of the helmet” against Jets cornerback Brandon Stephens, a play that did not draw a penalty from the game officials and, to be clear, was barely noticeable to the unaided viewer as it occurred.
The fine resulted from a play with 5:27 remaining in the second quarter when Hollins caught a pass from Maye for eight yards at New England’s own 28-yard line.
Seen in a still image posted by ESPN’s longtime Patriots correspondent Mike Reiss, as Hollins makes the reception he is stopped by Stephens, and as the two players come into contact, Hollinsâ helmet appears to make inadvertent contact with the lower part of Stephens’ facemask.
According to Reiss, the fine was issued as a “safety issue to protect Hollins.”
Only Pickens Fined More in Week 11
NFL policy allows the league to fine players for “risky behavior that could lead to injuries,” including injuries to the offending player, according to the league’s operations office. The “Use of the helmet” rule “states that it is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent.”
The fine against Hollins, who signed as a free agent with New England this year on a two-year, $8.4 million contract after spending last season with the Buffalo Bills, was second only to the $26,085 unsportsmanlike conduct fine levied against Dallas Cowboys receiver George Pickens for “use of a prop.”
The fine is the fourth of Hollins’ career, and nearly doubles the total amount he has been forced to fork over in the previous three instances. Before this week, Hollins had paid an aggregate amount of $22,403.
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