FOXBORO, Mass. — Patriots defensive end Andre Carter was fined $15,000 by the NFL for the hit he levied Sunday on Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers.
Carter wasn’t exactly thrilled with the news, but he understood the league’s efforts to protect quarterbacks. Carter was flagged for a personal foul on the second-quarter play.
“I knew it could have gone either way, especially when you get the penalty,” Carter said. “I just know the league is trying to do a good job as far as protecting the quarterback or just protecting people in general when it comes to head-to-head collisions. With all due respect, I understand that, but I’ve just got to keep playing football.
“You’re trained. They always say, there’s an opening, you go ahead and take it. You kind of reflect on it and say, ‘OK, well maybe if my head was on the right side, maybe if it was on the left side.’ There’s no way of doing it. The only way I can think of is just pulling up. When you go to the quarterback in kind of that no-man’s land, you’ve got to take a shot. It wasn’t necessarily dirty, but that’s what defensive ends or defensive players thrive off of especially when it comes to harassing the quarterback and getting that pressure. That’s how I look at it.”
It’s the second fine of Carter’s career, but he admitted he deserved the first one, which came when his 49ers played against the Redskins in 2002. Carter couldn’t remember who he hit, but the Redskins played both Danny Wuerffel and Shane Matthews in that game. Carter said that was also a $15,000 expense.
“That was a late hit,” Carter recalled with a laugh. “I’ll take credit for that one. That was pretty bad. It was like, ‘One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, boom.'”
