The NFL has been busy this week handing out fines to coaches and teams who failed to wear face masks during Week 2.
Seattle Seahawks’ head coach Pete Carroll, Denver Broncos’ head coach Vic Fangio and San Francisco 49ers’ head coach Kyle Shanahan were all fined $100,000 for not wearing face masks on the sidelines on Sunday, CBS Sports reports.
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton were also fined $100,000 for not wearing face masks on the sideline on Monday night football, Yahoo Sports reports. Each team also received an additional $250,000 fine for not following NFL’s rule on face coverings. This makes a total of almost $2 million in fines for not wearing face masks.
The NFL have been very clear that all coaches and other personals must be wearing face covering on the sidelines. NFL executive VP Troy Vincent sent out a memo to all 32 teams last weekend, making it clear of its policy on face coverings.
Raiders head coach Jon Gruden knew a fine was coming after he failed to keep his mask on during Monday night’s game against the New Orleans Saints. After the game, he revealed that he had contracted the virus already and he apologizes for breaking the rules.
“I’m doing my best” Gruden said according to Yahoo Sports. “I’ve had the virus. I’m doing my best. I’m very sensitive about it, but I’m calling plays. I just wanna communicate in these situations and I apologize and if I get fine I’ll have to pay the fine, but I’m very sensitive about that and I apologize.”
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll explained how he was constantly reminded to put on the masks by his coaching staff, and he even changed his mask at halftime to a better one to coach in. “I had a coach who was reminding me about it throughout the game, Chad Morton was on my ass the whole night. He was reminding me the whole time,” Carroll said according to NBC Sports reports. “I even changed masks at halftime to find one that worked better. Sometimes you’ve got to get coached up. Sometimes you have to admit that that you screwed up and have got to do better.”
“We wear masks all day at practice, we wear them in the building” Carroll also said to NBC Sports. “I know it’s extremely important to wear masks. Sometimes you’ve got to be reminded. Sometimes you’ve got to get coached up.”
The safety of the players, coaches and staff are the NFL’s number one priority. The NFL wants to ensure that all players and coaches are following coronavirus protocols, which includes wearing face coverings where its needed. After the fine from the weekend, the NFL hopes that other teams recognize the importance of wearing face coverings and hefty fines will be given out if these protocols are broken.
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