Seahawks Fined Heavily for Face Covering Violations

The Sunday Night Football match-up between the Seahawks and Patriots was quite possibly the most exciting game of NFL Week 2. I should've been focused on big plays happening on both sides of the ball, but there was something else that I couldn't look away from.

For the record, I'm not a Pete Carroll fan. I still have an axe to grind comeback win his USC Trojans pulled off against my beloved Ohio State Buckeyes in 2009. That's probably why this stuck out to me like a sore thumb.

"Why is Pete Carroll not wearing a mask and every other coach in the NFL is?" I asked my husband repeatedly. He shrugged me off but while I was watching Monday Night Football, I got my answer from the game announcers.

Pete Carroll was supposed to be wearing a mask. In fact, everyone in the bench area who is NOT a player is required to wear some sort of face covering like a mask, neck gaiter or face shield (ala Andy Reid.) The NFL issued a very strongly worded warning to coaching staffs before after they saw issues with the policy multiple times in Week 1.

Apparently the Seahawks head coach, as well as Broncos head coach, Vic Fangio and 49ers head coach, Kyle Shanahan didn't take that warning seriously and it cost them...heavily.

The three coaches were fined $100,000 a piece and their respective teams were each fined an additional $250,000. In total mask violations made up over $1 million in fines from the league in Week 2. That number might go up, because neither coach on Monday Night Football did a good job of following the rules.

We'll see if the large fine has an impact on Pete Carroll's behavior in Week 3 on Sunday when the Seahawks get a visit from former Boise State Bronco Kellen Moore and his Dallas Cowboys.