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NFL: Coleman Won't Be Fined

The NFL announced today that there will be no fine for safety Kurt Coleman'shit Sunday on Colts receiver Austin Collie.

Here is a statement from the league, delivered via email to the Daily News:

"In the second quarter of Sunday's game between the Eagles and Colts, the Eagles were penalized for unnecessary roughness for a hit on Colts wide receiver Austin Collie.

"The contact on Collie was initiated by Eagles safety Quintin Mikell (No. 27), who delivered a legal hit with his shoulder to the chest area of Collie. That contact propelled Collie toward Eagles safety Kurt Coleman (No. 42), causing Coleman to make helmet-to-helmet contact with Collie.

"Because the helmet-to-helmet contact was a result of Collie being driven toward Coleman by Mikell's legal hit, there will be no fine for this action.

"Though there will be no fine issued in this instance, the play was properly officiated. Officials have been instructed to err on the side of player safety, and when in doubt, will penalize in situations such as this for unnecessary roughness."

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The Eagles could be without both safety Nate Allen and cornerback Ellis Hobbs for Monday night's game at Washington.

Allen suffered a neck sprain Sunday against Indianapolis and missed most of the game. Allen said after the game that team doctors told him he "dinged my spinal cord." He had an MRI today.

"It looks like he's going to struggle to make it this week, but we'll see how he progresses through the week," coach Andy Reid said.

Reid said he and GM Howie Roseman met this morning and they have not made a decision about bringing in another safety or corner.

Hobbs, who missed Sunday's game with a hip flexor, will see a back specialist tomorrow to try to get an answer to why he feels weakness in his hip. Reid said "we'll see" when asked if Hobbs is out for the Redskins.

"He has a pain in the groin area, in the hip flexor area," Reid said. "There's a weakness there. He just doesn't feel like he has his full strength there. We are just taking every precautionary measure we can there. We just want to make sure he's right."

Reid was asked whether the Eagles would consider bringing back corner Al Harris, who is being released by the Packers after coming off the PUP list.

"I don't know where Al is physically," Reid said. "He's close to 36 years old and coming off an injury similar to [Leonard] Weaver's if you take out the nerve damage that Weaver had there. It's a pretty significant injury he's coming off of. We have to look at that a little more."

Guard Todd Herremans' ankle is bothering him, although Reid said "he should be fine." Herremans previously had a sprained ankle.

Max Jean-Gilles had a concussion. "He's feeling a bit better today. He has a bit of a headache." If Jean-Gilles can't play, then Nick Cole would play again.

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Reid also was asked a series of questions regarding the call surrounding the concussion suffered by Colts wide receiver Austin Collie:

On what else the players could have done? "There's really nothing else. That was a bang-bang play. It was two guys. There were three people involved. By the time Kurt got there he was being hit back into him. The league is trying like crazy to make this league right. I'm not sitting here to judge that. They are evaluating it more than anybody. The officials are learning like we are on the go. I'm not going to sit up here and bash anyone. I don't see what they could have done differently after looking at it on film and studying. If the player asked me that I'd just have to tell them that. I am completely behind what the league is trying to do. For the player's sake down the road and all, we are kinda of in a new territory here … some things are going to have to change here."

On having enforcement changed during the season: "I'm not saying the call is right or wrong. I think it's important that everybody grows with it, that there will be some consistency on judgment that comes to roost here. I think it will all get worked out. I don't think it will change the game a lick as far as the hard hitting and all that. Once it's defined and we have enough data in the base and go back and look at it and say this is what it is and what it isn't. I think it's a learning period right now.

On the learning curve: "They are enforcing the rule that was basically out there before. They are re-reinforcing the rule. Not that it's a new rule, it's just got a closer eye on it … There are some tough things in there. That is part of this learning thing. In the heat of the battle, I can't sit here and tell you I'm the calmest guy in the world when I see those things. When you step back and look at it, I understand the big picture of things. But when you are out there competing whether player or coach sometimes it can be a little rough. I know the league is heading in the right direction with it. Just a matter of getting it all together right here."

For what it's worth, Coleman told a conference call with reporters today that after watching replays, he figures the officials made the right call, given that his helmet eventually struck Collie's (although the officials' statement after the game indicated Coleman was penalized for hitting Collie's helmet with his shoulder. He said he still thinks it was "a football play" and he hopes he will not be fined. Coleman called the collision "a freak accident."

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Reid also lauded rookie linebacker Keenan Clayton, who made his NFL debut, moving between safety and linebacker, as he sometimes did at Oklahoma, as part of the Eagles' attempts to confuse Peyton Manning. Reid felt Clayton "showed us a little something."