The Canadian Football League has fined Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ linebacker Adam Bighill for unnecessary roughness in his Week 7 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders after he drove quarterback Shea Patterson into the ground on the final play of the game.
Patterson dropped back with five seconds remaining and the Riders leading 19-9, seeking to kill time and throw the football away. He held onto the ball too long and was drilled while on the run by Bighill, who planted his entire body weight on the pivot with zeros on the clock.
The hit sparked outrage from Rider Nation on social media and nearly kickstarted a brawl on the field, as a number of Saskatchewan players rushed to their QB’s defence. However, Bombers’ head coach Mike O’Shea insisted post-game that there was “nothing wrong” with the play and Riders’ head coach Corey Mace indicated his team harboured “no ill will” towards Winnipeg as a result. Even Patterson himself defended the play in his address to the media.
“That’s just [Bighill] making a play. That’s on me too, I can’t hold onto it that long. It’s really kill six [seconds] and throw it out of bounds,” he said.
“Willie [Jefferson] was coming off the edge, made him miss and maybe got a little too cocky. A veteran linebacker came and sent me a message, respect to him.”
As per CFL policy, the amount of the fine was not disclosed. The maximum amount any player can be fined under the collective bargaining agreement is half of one game cheque.
Also fined following Week 7 was Edmonton Elks’ quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who violated the CFL’s Code of Conduct for the second time this season.
The 35-year-old was officially reprimanded for “bringing the league into disrepute via comments made to the media,” after he called the CFL’s schedule a “travesty” following his second consecutive loss to the Ottawa Redblacks and blamed league leadership for causing potentially “career-ending injuries” by forcing teams to play on short weeks.
Bethel-Thompson was previously fined for similar comments made in Week 4, when he said the CFL had a “lack of leadership” and alleged that the league did not care about player safety.
Elks’ safety Loucheiz Purifoy was fined for a high hit on Ottawa’s Bralon Addison during the game, which was played on five days of rest for both teams.
