Jared Allen Fined $21,000 For Hit That Put Lance Louis On IR

photo credit: Big Lead

Jared Allen insists he wasn’t trying to injure the Bears’ Lance Louis when he blindsided the offensive lineman during Antoine Winfield’s INT return on Sunday. “I thought it was a legal hit. He’s running to make a tackle, so I just wanted to block him,” Allen said to reporters. “I never intentionally try to hurt anybody. I turned around, he was running to make a tackle and I threw myself into him to make a block. My condolences to him and his family.”

Allen may have thought  it was a legal hit but the NFL disagrees. On Wednesday the league fined the defensive end $21,000 for the play. This probably won’t be much comfort to Lance Louis who suffered a sprained knee on the play and will miss the rest of the season.

Members of the Bears’ team and coaching staff will no doubt applaud the NFL for the fine. They made it clear they did not appreciate Allen’s effort. Lovie Smith summed up the team’s position, saying “Jared Allen plays the game a certain way, a good player in our league But I think there are some plays when you look at them again you say, ‘Hey, we could have done without that.’ I think our game could do without that play.

“We have an injured player right now based on it. I think you could have gotten a block a little bit differently. That’s about all I should probably say about it. I’m sure the league will look at it and they’ll give an opinion about what they think.”

The Vikings play the Bears again in two weeks and some have speculated that Allen will have payback coming his way. We’ll see.

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