The Sports Xchange

Arizona Cardinals safety Rashad Johnson and Chicago Bears linebacker Pernell McPhee were each fined $17,363 for hits on quarterbacks during last Sunday’s game at Soldier Field.

NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino announced the Week 2 fines Friday in his weekly officiating video.

Johnson was fined for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, who later left the game with a hamstring injury in the second quarter. Johnson was not penalized for the hit.

McPhee’s fine was for a late hit early in the third quarter on Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer. McPhee was flagged for roughing the passer and received a 15-yard penalty.

Blandino said McPhee’s hit on Palmer was a case of the forcible contact to a quarterback’s knee that the NFL is trying to prevent.

“Forcible contact to the knee area — this is a foul,” Blandino said. “Whether it’s just above the knee or on the knee, we aren’t going to nitpick that. If it’s in the knee area and it’s forcible, the defender drives his shoulder, his helmet, his body, his upper chest into that knee area or below, it’s going to be a foul. Now, if the defender is blocked or fouled into the contact and the contact is unavoidable, then it’s not a foul. This is a foul for roughing the passer.”