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KIRKLAND, Wash. -- Warren Sapp thinks Jerramy Stevens is a punk -- and some other, choice things.

Sapp's Oakland Raiders' teammate, Stuart Schweigert, describes the Seahawks' tight end as "a dirty, dirty player."

Pittsburgh Steeler Joey Porter called Stevens "soft" and "a first-round bust" with "a lot of nerve" for some needling comments before last February's Super Bowl.

Even one of Stevens' teammates with the Seahawks finds him annoying. Or used to.

"You mean when I was in San Fran?" first-year Seattle starting linebacker Julian Peterson said Wednesday, laughing. "Oh, I couldn't stand him, either.

"It's sort of like that gnat that keeps on wanting to be around you. You're like, 'Get away from me.' You end trying to slap it all the time," Peterson said, slapping his wrist.

Wednesday, the NFL slapped Stevens' wrist -- and wallet. The league fined him $15,000 after determining he instigated an incident late in Monday night's game that ended with the Raiders' Tyler Brayton kneeing Stevens in the groin.

Brayton and Stevens were pushing and grabbing at each other's shoulders away from a 4-yard run by Mack Strong with 1:54 remaining in the hot-tempered game that Seattle won 16-0. Stevens' leg was raised before Brayton abruptly ended the clinch by raising his right knee onto the upper, inside half of Stevens' left thigh. An official, watching just yards away, gave Brayton a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and an ejection.

On Wednesday, league director of football operations Gene Washington said Stevens attempted to kick Brayton in the groin area immediately before Brayton's kneeing. That was Tuesday's assertion from Raiders' coach Art Shell, who recently worked in the league office before returning this season to coach Oakland.

Washington also noted that on an incomplete pass play in the second quarter, Stevens head butted and taunted Schweigert. That drew one of the game's five unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

The NFL informed Stevens -- and Brayton, who was fined $25,000 -- "that future infractions of this type will lead to increased disciplinary action up to and including suspension."

The Seahawks seem dismayed by the league penalty. A team spokesman said Stevens did not want to comment.

After Monday night's game, Stevens said, "It wasn't anything that was said. It was him getting beat on plays ... I was trying to get away from the situation."

The fine is the latest evidence that despite playing just three games since February because of two knee surgeries, Stevens apparently has a league-wide reputation as a villain. But why?

Even while on his best behavior, Stevens is an excitable sort who often jaws with opponents after plays.

"He just knows how to rub people the wrong way," said Peterson, whose 49ers played against Stevens twice each season from 2002-05.

The outspoken Sapp was more pointed.

"This dude has been a piece of [excrement] since he got in this league, and it's never going to change about him," Sapp said. "You're just a punk. You're just out there trying to get something started.

"You can just look at this guy's track record, it's just what it is," Sapp said.

"Something's got to change about it -- but he's going to get his, guaranteed. This league has a great way of humbling you. And he'll get his, no doubt about it."

Schweigert said of Stevens: "I knew you can bait him into stuff. Because that's just the way he is."

Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren doesn't approve of Stevens' talking with opponents.

"I don't like it," Holmgren said. "Not just Jerramy -- I think there's way too much of that that goes on in the league, the trash talking ... I think it can get you off your game a little bit."

Stevens allowed a sure touchdown pass from Seneca Wallace to clang off his chest in the end zone Monday night. In Seattle's 21-10 loss in the Super Bowl -- following a week of verbal sparring with the Steelers' Porter after Stevens said Seattle was going to spoil Jerome Bettis' Detroit homecoming -- Stevens dropped three passes.

Holmgren disputed the idea that Stevens has a reputation across the NFL.

"His reputation? He's played two games this year," Holmgren said, sounding incredulous. "The Super Bowl thing that came out [was] only because it was the Super Bowl. It would surprise me if anyone gives two seconds to thinking about his reputation in that way."

On Wednesday, Holmgren told his team to cut out the trash talking and all extracurricular action during games, calling it selfish. He said he would talk to Stevens later in the week.

"We all want the same thing, for the game to be played properly, within the rules, all those things," the coach said of the league's action. "And sometimes it's necessary to send a message."

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press