NFL teams
Paul Kuharsky, ESPN Staff Writer 11y

Jake Locker: Jets shouldn't be fined

NFL, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker, out with a sprained knee and hip, said he doesn't think the hits Sunday from New York Jets players Muhammad Wilkerson and Quinton Coples are worthy of fines.

The NFL did not feel the same way.

Wilkerson was finedĀ $15,785 and Coples was fined $7,875 on Wednesday, a league source told ESPN.com's Rich Cimini. Both players will appeal the fines.

Locker suffered the injuries on a third-quarter play on which he threw an incomplete pass, then got hit by Wilkerson and a bit later on the other side by Coples.

"I didn't feel like that on the field, and after watching it, you know, it wasn't anything malicious, I didn't feel like," Locker said, speaking to the media for the first time since the injury sent him to the hospital. "I kind of got bounced into the second guy. I didn't feel like they were out to get me, no."

Coach Mike Munchak had called the hits unnecessary.

Locker said he doesn't know his timetable and that early rehab is about getting the muscles "firing right again." He walked with a stiff-legged limp and wore a sleeve on his injured leg.

Ryan Fitzpatrick is the Titans' starter until Locker returns, and Rusty Smith will be promoted from the practice squad to back him up.

Meanwhile, one fine from the Titans' blowout of the Jets came to light.

Tennessee free safety Michael Griffin shared his letter from the NFL alerting him to a $21,000 fine for a hit he made on receiver Stephen Hill as Alterraun Verner intercepted a Geno Smith pass.

He said he will appeal and rated his chances of winning as "zero to slim." Hill suffered a concussion on the play.

"On a pass play you unnecessarily struck a defenseless player in the head and neck area," Griffin read from the letter. "But I'm trying to figure out if it's an interception, how's he a defenseless player?

"I didn't even hit him in the head or neck. You watch it or you slow-mo it, I hit him in his left shoulder."

Information from ESPN.com's Rich Cimini was used in this report.

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