According to NFL, Fine for Eye-Gouging, Having Eyes Gouged Exactly the Same

During the Bengals Week 9 win over the Jaguars (their first of the season!), Jacksonville defensive tackle John Henderson tried to remove Cincy offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth's eyeballs from his skull. He didn't scrub up, ask for a melon baller ... nothing. Just started poking away.

Predictably, both players were fined for the altercation ($10,000 each), although Whitworth has a legitimate gripe: why is the punishment for eye-gouging the same as having your eyes gouged? It's a fair question.

"Blatantly attacking me from behind, without a helmet, without any restraint," is how Whitworth described the incident. "He was definitely going to try to cause physical harm. And he gets $10,000. I don't think there is any one in the NFL office who could call me on the phone and explain one thing that justifies that – not at all. ... I expected mine for retaliating, I guess you could say, and throwing a punch," Whitworth said. "I think him getting the same thing as me is absurd."

Whitworth's right, of course; nobody from the league office will be calling him. Not to worry, though; some 18 other players were fined on the play, including Bengals left tackle Levi Jones, who is out $5,000 for "unnecessarily entering the fight zone" during the Whitworth-Henderson undercard. (Obvious follow-up: What constitutes the "fight zone?" A five-yard halo around the combatants? Ten? 100?)

As to why the NFL saw fit to just punish everybody on the field, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello tried to explain: "That is a longstanding policy to prevent fighting between players from escalating."

Convincing. Whatever, Cincy wideout T.J. Houshmandzadeh isn't impressed:

"I don't see how -- if you're going to fine people, cool -- but I don't see how the guy who started the whole thing is getting the same fine as the guy who was trying to defend himself," Houshmandzadeh said of Whitworth and Henderson.

One problem, T.J.: YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN BE TALKING ABOUT THIS PUBLICLY. Not unless you're Mike Perreira, anyway.