Samuel fined $40,000 for helmet hit on Giants' Hagan

November 24, 2010

Asante Samuel plans to go low. Samuel, the Philadelphia Eagles' three-time Pro Bowl cornerback, is not happy with his $40,000 fine for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Giants wide receiver Derek Hagan that drew an unnecessary roughness penalty.

Now, a change of tactics is in order. "If you're not looking, I'm going low," he said Wednesday.

Samuel is not known as a physical player. He leads the league with seven interceptions and has 42 for his career.

"They don't pay me to tackle," he joked. "Now they're charging me to tackle."

Young texts apology

Jeff Fisher says quarterback Vince Young has apologized to him via text message, though probably not the best move since the Tennessee coach says talking face-to-face is a "man thing." Fisher said Wednesday after practice that reporters could draw their own conclusion on whether he would have preferred an apology from Young in person. The quarterback had a heated exchange with Fisher in the locker room after Sunday's overtime loss to Washington, and Fisher told Young not to attend a team meeting Monday.

Injury ends Portis' season

Clinton Portis' season has come to an early end for the second year in a row. Coach Mike Shanahan said that the Washington Redskins running back will be placed on injured reserve with a torn muscle in the lower abdomen.

The new injury is just above the area of the torn left groin that caused Portis to miss five games. Portis returned from the groin injury for Sunday's game against Tennessee but lasted only five carries before getting hurt again. Portis will have surgery and require at least two months of rehabilitation.

Heimerdinger has cancer

Tennessee offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger has been diagnosed with cancer and is expected to start chemotherapy treatment almost immediately. Coach Jeff Fisher announced that Heimerdinger has been very sick the past three weeks but learned the diagnosis yesterday morning. Heimerdinger wasn't at practice. Fisher declined to specify what type of cancer Heimerdinger has. - AP