Ravens outside linebacker Courtney Upshaw has reportedly been fined $16,537 for his hit on Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger last week, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Upshaw was penalized for roughing the passer.
The fine is consistent with other roughing the passer fines handed out by the league this year, per spotrac.com.
Upshaw told The Sun that he plans to appeal.
"They said I got him with my helmet," Upshaw said. "It's the rules. It's kind of tough."
Upshaw's hit came on the Steelers' first drive of the game. As Roethlisberger escaped a tackle, Upshaw hit him square in the chest for a sack. It was nullified, however, by the penalty.
Roethlisberger later said the hit is the hardest he can remember since former Raven Bart Scott laid him out in 2006.
"I lost my breath instantly and remember hitting the ground thinking, 'Boy, that hurt a lot,'" Roethlisberger said.
But just because it's a hard hit doesn't necessarily mean it's illegal. Head Coach John Harbaugh spoke to the penalty on Monday.
"It's difficult because the way the rules are written is one thing, what's possible to accomplish is another thing," Harbaugh said.
"There's no way to coach Courtney out of that. He's coming full-speed, he's going down into the strike zone and he's keeping his eyes up. He can't lift his head any higher than that. He also can't get his head off to the side because Ben's moving, and also the fact that if he gets his head off to the side, he's got a really good chance of missing the tackle or hurting himself by dropping his head. We're never going to put our player in a position to coach him to drop his head."
Steelers safeties Troy Polamalu and Mike Mitchell were flagged for unnecessary roughness on Ravens receivers last Thursday, but both players said they haven’t been fined for the hits, per ProFootballTalk.
