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The stinging loss at home against the Indianapolis Colts last Thursday night will sting a lot more for Jacksonville Jaguars safety Dawan Landry and defensive tackle Terrance Knighton. Both were fined for hits the laid out against the Colts in the loss, Knighton's as the least surprising of the two.
NFL fines Terrance Knighton $25,000 and Dawan Landry $10,000 for hits against Colts. #Jaguars
— Ryan O'Halloran (@ryanohalloran) November 16, 2012
Knighton was called for a roughing the passer penalty early in the game, which wiped out an interception by cornerback Aaron Ross. The call, while by the letter of the rule was correct, was kind of a bogus call. Knighton hit quarterback Andrew Luck a split second after he released the football and their helmets touched. It wasn't a malicious hit, it wasn't a targeted hit, their helmets just hit due to physics and the flag was called.
A helmet-to-helmet shot on a quarterback now-a-days typically is an automatic fine.