On Wednesday, a report emerged regarding significant fines imposed on three head coaches for their interactions with officials. The news that the league dinged Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, Jets coach Aaron Glenn, and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni for $250,000 each lacked details about the behavior that caused it and the specific conditions that would keep the penalties, which reportedly are being held in abeyance, from being enforced.
Two of the coaches spoke to reporters on Thursday. Not much light was shed on the situation in either case.
“I won’t get into my conversations with the league,” Sirianni said when asked whether the fine was for a specific incident or something more general. “I try to keep everything player related, as far as my conversations with players, in-house. Not try, I do. Same with conversations with the league, same with conversations with the referees association. I’ll just keep that at that.”
He was then asked whether his approach to officials has changed in his tenure as a head coach.
“You are in constant growth,” Sirianni said. “I truly believe that I’ve been in constant growth there in maturity in every phase. You’re trying to get better as a coach on a daily basis. I’m always trying to get better as a human being, as a Christian, as a father, as a husband, as a son on a daily basis. I know that things don’t happen overnight, and there are times where you ‘relapse,’ to say, and you have a moment that you want back. But I can truly see growth, and that happens because, again, my faith. That happens, again, because of the people I have around me. I want to continue to grow as a person and as a coach, but that doesn’t mean we’re perfect. We all fall and it’s about how you get back up.”
That still leaves us with nothing regarding what they said or did to trigger the fines. Which creates the impression that it was more of a warning shot by the league aimed at getting all coaches to go easier on the officials. The fact that Sirianni expressly referenced the NFL Referees Association lends credence to the idea that it’s part of a broader effort to elevate the discourse.
Vrabel wasn’t specifically asked about the fine after Thursday night’s 30-24 loss to the Bears. In response to the last question of the press conference, he was asked about one of the calls made during the game.
“I’m not in very good favor with the officiating department,” Vrabel said, “so I probably shouldn’t say anything.”
He walked off after that, leaving no opportunity for a follow-up.
Regardless, the issue cries out for more details. Why were they fined? What did they do? What is the standard of behavior for getting the fines rescinded?
Vrabel is next scheduled to talk to reporters on Monday. Perhaps at that point, we’ll get some answers. Ditto for Glenn, who’ll speak after Sunday’s game against the Dolphins.
For now, the only lesson to other coaches is very broad: “Tread lightly.” And maybe that was the entire goal of the imposition of the fines.
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