I saw that play and was surprised the announcers did not mention Wilfork was off balance and tripped into Losman. It was bad luck, and clearly not intentional.

It doesn't seem fair to fine a player when they were apparently knocked into the quarterback. A little common sense needs to be applied.

I thought Wilfork was putting his elbow out to catch his fall, not take out Losman's knee. 12,500 seems excessive, even if the Bills lost their quarterback. This is football. I think we're a classy team and if Chad Johnson agrees, I think a lot of other people do. Goodell is REALLY upsetting me.

Wilfork was knocked down by an offensive lineman and never lundged at the QB. Watch the tape closely - there is no extra upper body movements to suggest he intensionally hit Losman with the forearm.

It seems like the NFL is out to get any & all PATRIOTS players, personnel this year, especially after the spy conspiracy. Wilfork was falling, from being blocked, and put his arm out, in a natural reflex. It was obvious on the TV replay, that is was not intentional. The NFL needs to look at the video closer, and stop headhunting the PATRIOTS!

I don't think NT Vince Wilfork should be fined. It's not his fault. It was an accident. I believe that the NFL had bad judgement.

I wholeheartedly agree with the fine. Such action can take the quarterback's team and ALL football fans out of the game when the quarterback goes down. What would our fan's say if our Tom got taken down in such a way?

lucky..I thought he was going to be suspended for intent to injure. He got off easy.

Pats need him.

So what's the over/under for Monday? 37?

Go Pats

Yeah, I'm sure the fans of the opposing QB are loving it, but try to think of the logic when a 320 pound man is going full bore and gets tripped in that instance, sending him airborn. What is he supposed to do? Pull his arms to his side and land on his face? If Dick Butkus or Jack Lambert were playing in todays league, they would be getting fined $12,500 per individual series!!

It's sad, but that's about all we can say about it. I agree with the fine, because it protects all quarterbacks and I wish Losman well.

if you watch the play Bill, you can see he was tripped/blocked into the QB. Yes, it is unfortunate, but Wilfork should not be at fault for this.

This was completely unintentional. Injuries happen - accept it. Look at all the injuries the Pats have had over the years, esp. the one that took Harrison out last year. No one was fined there. This does not make sense.

Hey...remember...we have gotten penalized for tripping over the quarterbacks head long after a play was over. At least there was really an injury (sad to say) this time. Bill better forget about Coaches Challenges this year. I bet his stats are worst than usual post camera-gate.

Why does the league fine players for penalties so often now? What is next? "Holding, number 62, 10 yard penalty, 1,000 dollar fine, repeat 1st down".

I don't think there was any intent to injure on that play, it seemed that the result of Wilfork fall was out of his hands to control. However, the league does need to protect the QB, so I believe the fine is warrented.

Stop the paranoia. Wilfork didn't have to throw the elbow.

What would a week at NFL Central be without some punitive action against the Patriots? What's next? A team fine for not meeting the NFL average in offensive penalty yardage? Just another reason for The Pats to band together.

Yes, once again the Pats pull a cheap shot or cheat, and it's the league out to get them! You Patriots fans are too much! Imagine the bloody murder that would be screamed around here if it had been a Buffalo player doing that to Brady. I wonder how logical we'd all get about physics and how a 300 lb. linemen can't stop his momentum, yada yada yada.

News flash: the hit had already been flagged, i.e. DIRTY.

Just be happy the punishment is just $12,500 and not a game off. The Pats are already too thin on the defensive line.

The Bills should offer to pay Wilfork's fine for him -- anything to keep JP Losman out of the game.

Maybe I'm being a bit too suspicious here... but will someone argue the NFL is NOT out to get the pats? I mean, is wilfork or colvin or vrabel going to charge the QB with the same intensity with that 12.5 hundred dollars in the back of their mind? Seems to me the NFL is doing all they can to take the pats down a notch.

Many of the comments seem to wonder why after carefully reviewing the play, such a heavy fine was given. I say too many of us are simply assuming that the people making these decisions are very bright individuals. Perhaps because they wear nice suits and make a lot of money. I would suggest that they are not nearly that bright. We have often seen evidence of that. Let us not be surprised.

Happy he didn't get suspended? What a joke! Last year a guy spears Brady in the head on a running play-no fine. Wilfork gets knocked into Losman and loses 12K. The Pats are going to be under the microscope right up to when Goodell has to put a fake smile on his face when he hands Kraft the trophy.

Dunno what tapes most folks were watching of the game, but Wilfork has eyes on Losman, then he puts his head down and turns his body. Nobody sticks out their elbow to land on their ribcage. Not a cool play, and the worst thing the Pats could have done was have the Bills replace their terrible QB. I love the Pats, but the hit was intentional.

Y'all have said it already so well, but I'll add one more person saying that you can't treat momentary mid-air adjustments as intentional acts of malicious intent. Be real!

Isn't this where the saying comes from, of "Monday morning quarterbacking"?

I recently jumped behind a basketball player to try to block the shot, but the person stepped backwards into me, and ..... splat! Once you are airborn, all you can do is apologize.

Wilfork took a cheap shot. He should be suspended. Tripped? Please.

I felt it was clearly intention. I also felt they hurt Pennington the first weekend when they twisted him (intentionally).

If Anyone Was Watching Inside NFL On HBO, There Is a Guy In NFL Studio Who Is LQQKing For These Type Of Incidents. He Commented On Wilfork Hit & Said It Was Questionable & Would Send It To Comm Goodell For Him To Decide On Any Fowl Play.

You see, Vince Wilfork failed to use his "Patriots issued helmet mounted radar" to sense that Losman had released the ball. Then failed to stop himself in mid-air, rotate his body 90 degrees and land on the the top of his head 10 yards away from where Losman might be. Wilfork had a responsibility to not only anticipate everyone else's positions, including the cameramen, in relation to his own, but also to defy the law of physics.

All he is guilty of is "Playing while a Patriot".

What a joke!!!

Patriot fans: Can't believe you feel the league is out to get you. I don't see it that way.

While I don't believe that the blow to the knee was intentiional, it is a fact that he hit him after the play, which is a penalty. I'd rather the league fine for this unilaterally then try to determine the intent - they'll get it wrong. Having said that - they should retroactively fine the guy who took out Rodney's knee last year, because clearly equity is lacking.

I doubt the people making these decisions have any concept of how guys get tripped up and knocked around into other guys on practically every play.

What a convience for the media-editing of tape. To only show that small portion of an incident which incites the most emotion sure sells advertising. CBS's 1st replay clearly shows a arm or hand tripping Wilfork ( 15 yards, no call). How unfortunate that Wilfork stretched out his body while falling to the ground. Game officials see the real speed and excusably make mistakes. League officials see high tech tapings in super slow -mo and make even more mistakes.League wide! Shame on you NFL.

Lets be honest and understand that right or wrong it was a split second decision made by Wilfork. Whether he meant to or not isn't important. He didn't mean not to. If it was purely accidental he made no effort to not hit the QB late. He knows how the league protects quarterbacks. He should have made an effort to not blow someone's knee up.

I get a kick out of the non-pat-fans. Boy we've really upset some folks the past few years. Envy is one of the deadly sins....

Seriously, this is the NFL for better or worse. We like parity, well we have to take this protecting the quarterback to ridiculous lengths stuff with it I guess. I'd hate to be one of these guys trying to rush the QB. Do I stop? Do I go? I'm falling - where am I falling? It seems like too much, but the other side is those guys are vulnerable and exposed when they're throwing. It's always going to be subjective and inconsistent.

Wilfork has never been known as a dirty player and I know I wouldn't want to be the guy going to the sideline to face the hoodie after drawing a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty. I'm betting it was unintentional.

take coach B's appoarch: it is what it is, it's behind us now,all we're working toward now is the monday night game with cincy.

GO PATS!!!!!!

It seems that as many good penalties the commissioner has handed out, he's handed out some atrocious ones also. I don't think this is the right guy for the job.

Any one who goes out on the field with 320 pound men wrestling each other with the perfectly legal intent of bringing you down to the ground has to realize that there are risks invovled. The whole rule of protecting the quarter back makes the game that much more mentally involved and takes away from the physicality of the game. In regards to Wilfork... It is definately against the rules to lose your balance and fall into the quarterback? How long until we are watching NFL flag football? Maybe just a flag on the quarterback? Would it have made any difference in this situation?

After all the yakking about this, I've STILL never read an accurate account of the incident.

1) Yes, he was rushing the quarterback aggressively and legally, and clearly got bumped/tripped/bounced off his feet in the process.

2) Yes, he was 300 pounds of humanity flying through he air, without total control of everything.

3) But for all that, he clearly reached out toward Losman, trying to tackle him or trip him up or make contact. It seems plain from the video that he wasn't trying to catch himself or break his fall with no thought to the QB. That's not where your arm goes when you're trying to do that. He goes for the QB, which is pretty natural -- that's what he went back there for.

4) Was it reckless? Was it dirty? We can't know that for sure. We can take his word for it or not. (For myself, I don't think he was trying to hurt Losman or attack his knee, but I don't buy the idea that the contact was unintentional. And it's easy to understand a Buffalo fan thinking it was reckless.) In any case, it doesn't matter. Because...

5) The NFL doesn't care. They fine for low hits on quarterbacks, period. The aim is to prevent other players in this exact situation from doing this exact thing. So they fine for the hit, not for the mindset.

None of this is a referendum on Wilfork's character or good-guyness. From a purely PR point of view, I wish he'd just have said: "Yup, in the struggle of the moment and playing my best aggressive football I hit him in the wrong spot. I didn't mean to hurt him but I accept the consequences."

He actually DID try to say something like that, it seems like, but then felt that people were calling him dirty, and had to backtrack and restate it and now we're having this ridiculous conversation.

Case closed, your honor!

It seems the contact may well have been unintentional. That said, I agree with fining any player who crashes into a QB below the belt. It is too slippery of a slope to start attempting to decide what was intentional and what is not. Players need to avoid dangerous contact with the QB at all cost. I think that potential suspension, even for a single game, should be considered for potentially injurious hits. Amounts such as $12500 will deter some players but not others. So while I think Wilfork was not acting maliciously, I think the league should act decisively to discourage intentional or unintentional contact which could seriously injure the QB position.

Regardless of intent, Wilfork basically did the Bills a favor.

They're not going anywhere this year and the loss of their starting QB will probably result in a higher draft pick.

No one puts their elbow out to stop their fall. That is not a "natural reaction".

If you watch the tape it's clear that Wilfork loses his balance after bing pushed by an offensive lineman.

Wilfork is nothing but class and I believe he fell victim to the recent accusations sorrounding the Pat's recently.Goodell should lighten up a bit.