Eagles linebacker Oren Burks was fined $8,333 by the NFL for unnecessary roughness (use of the helmet) on his forced fumble on the opening kickoff of the Eagles’ 22-10 win over the Packers in the wild-card round last week.
Burks forced a fumble on the opening kickoff with a big hit but the play was not flagged on the field. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. recovered the fumble and the Eagles scored a touchdown a few plays later.
“I was trying to hit him, man,” Burks said after the game. “Hit him with everything I got, man. Like I said, just set the tone early. That was the physicality that we wanted to play with.”
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Even though the play was called clean on the field, Packers returner Keisean Nixon wasn’t happy about it.
“It was sudden change, they scored right after, so it gave them the ball,” Nixon said, via SI.com. “But I got the ball back for sure. It should’ve been targeting, helmet-to-helmet, but can’t dwell on it. Never been hit that hard, either. That was like the first time, I was kind of rattled. But it is what it is.”
The Eagles went on to take the ball away three more time on Jordan Love interceptions and advanced to the divisional round of the playoffs, where they’ll host the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
Burks ended up playing a lot of the game on defense after starting middle linebacker Nakobe Dean suffered a season-ending knee injury. Burks and Trotter Jr. are expected to fill in for Dean on Sunday.
NFL
In addition to the fine on Burks, two Packers players were also fined last week. Both Lukas Van Ness and Tedarrell Salmon were fined for unnecessary roughness (late hit) late in the fourth quarter.
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