Following a week of controversial calls and referee incidents, the NFL has fined New England head coach Bill Belichick and Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday for their actions with officials during the past weekend's games.
Belichick was fined $50,000 for making impermissible physical contact with an official" following the Patriots' loss against the Ravens on Sunday night. After the game ended on a questionable field goal call, Belichick chased after an official hoping to get an explanation and grabbed his arm to try and stop him from running off the field.
"I've coached in this league a long time," Belichick said Monday. "I've never been penalized, never had any incidents with officials or anything like that. I have never meant any disrespect or in any way tried to abuse or be disrespectful to the officials and the job that they do."
He explained that he was not trying to be malicious and just wanted clarity on the end of the game.
"I was trying to get an explanation for obviously an important call/play in that game. That's the No. 1 thing between coaches and officials, it's always at the forefront, just communication of what's going on and what's happening."
During that same game Ravens coach John Harbaugh was seen yelling at officials, but the NFL decided a fine was not appropriate.
Kyle Shanahan, Washington Redskins offensive coordinator and son of head coach Mike Shanahan, was fined $25,000 by the league after he was seen yelling at officials on the field and later confronting one after the game in a side tunnel of the stadium.
Shanahan issued a written statement Monday vowing that such an incident "will never happen again," but did not explicitly apologize for his outburst.
The incident occurred after a play at the end of the game as the Redskins were driving down the field and attempting to tie the game. With the Bengals up 38-31, quarterback Robert Griffin III spiked the ball with seven seconds left to stop the clock. The officials threw a flag on tight end Fred Davis for a false start and then indicated -- erroneously -- that there would be a 10-second runoff because of the false start penalty, ending the game.
"When I overheard the official tell the head coach that the game was over after the false start penalty, I tried to explain that the game was not over," Kyle Shanahan's statement said. "That is what resulted in the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. I tried to get an explanation of how I could get that penalty when half of the other team was on the field as well."
The call was wrong; the play should not have included a 10-second runoff.
"I was frustrated, and in the process of trying to get some answers from the officials, I conducted myself in the wrong way. I ask our players to hold themselves to a high standard and be accountable, and I know that I'm accountable for my actions as well. I know that I need to handle those situations better in the future. My emotions got the best of me, and I know it's my responsibility. This will never happen again."
Following the incident, the officials also marked off too many yards on the penalty and wrongly gave the Redskins a third-and-50.
Here is a link to the video of Shanahan yelling at an official after the game.
Earlier this week the NFL fined Broncos head coach John Fox $30,000 and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio $25,000 for arguing with officials during the week 2 matchup against the Falcons on Monday Night Football.
The NFL and the referee's association are getting closer to a deal, and have agreed in principle to get the officials back on the field.
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