Panthers’ Tommy Tremble was fined after concussing himself on a head-first hit

The NFL doesn’t just ban head-first hits to prevent players from injuring their opponents. The league is also cracking down on these hits to protect players from injuries.

An example of this is Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble, who gave himself a concussion against the Bears on Sunday by lowering his helmet into a tackler. The NFL fined Tremble $17,083 for that.

Tremble wasn’t penalized for the play, but he absolutely should have been. It was a textbook example of what ball carriers are not allowed to do: He made no attempt to avoid contact and instead sank the crown of his own helmet directly into the helmet of Bears safety Jaquan Brisker, who also suffered a concussion. Brisker was not fined because he did not lower the crown of his helmet during the collision.

Tremble also lost a fumble when he knocked himself unconscious during the play.