The Kansas City Chiefs and tight end Peyton Hendershot have been fined by the NFL for a lateral shove that bothered Baltimore Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith during the Week 1 game between the two teams.
The Chiefs were docked $100,000 and Hendershot $5,472 for a play in the fourth quarter of the Chiefs’ 27-20 victory.
As quarterback Patrick Mahomes was out of bounds on the Chiefs’ field after running for a first down, Smith shoved him to the ground, a play that did not draw a late hit penalty. As Smith walked back onto the field defending his actions, an inactive Hendershot shoved Smith from behind, leading to an exchange of words between the players and Smith pointing at Hendershot, who was also not penalized.
Smith mentioned the push Hendershot suffered on the touchline after the game when speaking to reporters.
“Oh, (Mahomes) went down. Yeah, he went down,” Smith said. “That’s why the refs didn’t call it. It was a great decision by the ref not to call it. But whoever 88 is, I don’t know who he is, but he better watch out. He made a slick little push. Whoever 88 is, I have no idea who he is, but I’ll see him when I see him.”
According to NFL.comThe league sent all teams a memo in early August reminding them that “non-player personnel (e.g., coaches, athletic trainers, equipment staff, security personnel) and non-participating players (e.g., inactive players, practice squad players) are prohibited from making unnecessary physical contact, taunting, or directing abusive, threatening, or insulting language or gestures toward opponents, game officials, or League representatives.”
The memo also noted that teams are responsible for the conduct of everyone on their sidelines during games.
Last season, Philadelphia Eagles head of security Dom DiSandro was ejected from a Week 13 game after starting an altercation on the sideline with San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw. That led to the NFL suspending “Big Dom” for the team’s remaining five regular-season games before he was allowed to return for Philadelphia’s wild-card round game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
