Patriots' Pat Chung Fined $7,500

During the 2011 NFL season, officials were told to crack down more on unnecessary hits by defense players due to notion of player safety. This week, the NFL showed they weren't going to back down from that policy, even during the playoffs.

On Friday, the NFL announced that New England Patriots safety Pat Chung had been fined $7,500 for an unnecessary roughness penalty he received in the second quarter in last weeks divisional playoff game against the Denver Broncos. Chung's hit came in the second quarter of the game when he hit a defender late out of bounds.

Chung, Andre Carter and Rob Ninkovich are the only Patriots to receive fines by the NFL for unnecessary hits this season. In addition to Chung, Broncos rookie linebacker Von Miller was also fined $7,500 for an unnecessary hit he [ut on Patriots center Dan Connolly during the infamous Tom Brady punt play.

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