Projo Pats Blog

Vince Wilfork spoke with a small group of beat reporters today in light of the news that he'd been fined $35,000 by the NFL for his display of unnecessary roughness on Denver's Jay Cutler on Oct. 20.

"I'm happy it turned out without a suspension," said Wilfork, sitting outside the team's meeting rooms at Gillette Stadium. "Like I said a couple of days ago, I think the meeting was a good meeting, very productive, and I think both sides gave good points."

Wilfork met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at the league's New York City offices on Tuesday to discuss his actions -- Wilfork was fined four times last season for after-the-whistle incidents -- and a possible suspension.

Goodell has told Wilfork that another transgression will likely mean a suspension.

"I have to be careful with what I do on the field. Most of these things occur at the end of a play and that's what we talked about, backing away at the whistle, toward the end of the play, just calming down," Wilfork said. "I can control that. I have to learn to play through the whistle but don't be afraid to play. If I do my play will slow down. I'm very confident that I can get it done."

Wilfork believes that his image as a dirty player came after the Buffalo game last season when he elbowed Bills' quarterback J.P. Losman in the knee. It bothered the Pro Bowler, but he said Goodell and league VP of football operations Ray Anderson showed him the film, and that the key issue was how long the ball had been out of Losman's hand when Wilfork's hit occured.

"I understand what they were talking about, and I told them, you can always slow things down [on video]. But at that moment...in the heat of the moment, nothing is slowed down."

 Tags  Vince Wilfork

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