Asante Samuel fined $40K for illegal hit

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PHILADELPHIA -- Asante Samuel plans to go low.

Samuel, the Philadelphia Eagles' three-time Pro Bowl cornerback, is not happy with his $40,000 fine for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Giants wide receiver Derek Hagan that drew an unnecessary roughness penalty.

Now, a change of tactics is in order.

"If you're not looking, I'm going low," he said Wednesday.

Samuel is not known as a physical player, often criticized for shying away from tackles. He is, however, one of the top playmakers. Samuel leads the league with seven interceptions and has 42 for his career.

"They don't pay me to tackle," he joked. "Now they're charging me to tackle."

The league has cracked down on hits to the helmet in the last month, with Samuel's fines among the NFL's biggest. Samuel lowered his shoulder on the hit and appeared to try to lead that way, his helmet making contact with Hagan's face mask.

"I think they want us to go low on the defenseless receiver and break some legs, that's probably what they want," he said. "It seems like that's what they prefer. I would hate to have to hit a guy low and he's not looking. You know what I'm saying?"

Samuel said the league called him a repeat offender in a letter outlining the fine, but he hasn't been fined for another hit.

"I never got fined for a hit before, so I don't know what they're talking about," he said.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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