In this week’s edition of “The NFL System of Fines is Absurd,” we bring you this:

The Patriots’ Kevin Faulk and Patrick Chung were each fined $7500 for misdeeds in the game against the Steelers – Faulk drew his fine for a chop block, and Chung for a facemask penalty. Both standard.

However, Pittsburgh S Troy Polamalu – who tackled Wes Welker to the ground by his head and twisted his helmet nearly 90 degrees and injured Welker’s neck to the point where he missed one day of practice this week and was limited for the other two – was not fined.

Nor was Polamalu flagged on the play during the game.


Yet two weeks ago the NFL fined Polamalu $10,000 for calling his wife from the sidelines to inform her that he was okay after suffering a concussion during a game.

And over and over again league brass tells anyone who will listen that player safety is paramount. Apparently just not in this case.

Update (7:40 p.m.) – Pittsburgh’s Ryan Clark was also fined for unnecessary roughness, when he hit Rob Gronkowski out of bounds in the third quarter. Clark was fined $15,000.