Five quick thoughts on the NFL's decision Tuesday to fine -- and not suspend -- Brandon Meriweather $50,000 for his hit on Todd Heap on Sunday. 

(1) If I'm Roger Goodell I would have suspended Meriweather for a game. Haven't we learned by now that fines are not in any way a deterrent? When does that ever work? Sure, 50K is a lot of money (about a tenth of Meriweather's 2010 salary) but I don't think Meriweather will be thinking about his checkbook the next time he's about to launch. You know what might give him pause? If the NFL went overboard and gave him a two-game suspension for the Heap hit and he knew the next punishment would be a four-game rip. Over the top? Sure, probably. But if you are truly sincere about changing the climate you have to start with an example. And that has yet to happen.

--

(2) And how does the NFL spend the last two days acting morally outraged over the Meriweather hit (with VP Ray Anderson casting himself as the guy who had his last shred of NFL innocence torn away by Meriweather over the weekend) and then fail to suspend him for at least a game? Here's Anderson talking to Peter King:

"Very frankly a lot of folks would put that hit in the cheap-shot category. I thought it was flagrant and unnecessary … On Sunday, I felt profoundly disturbed. We've got to hold our players to a higher accountability and get them to understand that they may be facing a suspension."

Instead, a slap on the wrist. Or 50,000 slaps on the wrist. I don't know, the "Yeah, it's a fine because the players didn't know they could be suspended for this ... But wait 'till next time!" angle from the NFL just doesn't indicate that they view this as a potential crisis.

--

(3) If you run out of your office or house right now and take a quick look up at the sky you might be able to catch a final glimpse of any benefit of the doubt for Meriweather with officials. It has left the building and will never be back. Any close (or maybe even not so close) personal foul call is going to get flagged. And you know what? That's Meriweather's fault. He hasn't changed his style and has told us that he won't. So when the replay of a third-quarter Meriweather hit on Austin Collie in Week 11 shows that it was clean and didn't deserve a flag, feel free to rip the refs but understand why they might have played the Jump to Conclusions game. 

--

(4) Two images from Sunday told the story for me. The first was Bill Belichick and his "You aren't going to try and sell me this, are you?" look he gave Meriweather after he came over to the sideline with his hands out as if to suggest that he didn't understand why he was flagged for the hit. The other was Todd Heap taking about 15 minutes to get dressed in the locker room after the game. He looked like a guy who had just been in a car wreck and was trying to figure out where he was and what had happened. Not sure how he was allowed back into that game.

--

(5) Didn't the hits over the weekend present the worst case for an 18-game season? We really don't need it -- I think we can live with 16 games a year, it's worked out pretty well. And if it's the health of the players -- and not a couple of extra hundred mil from NBC, CBS and FOX -- that really matters most it's an easy call. We already know what 2040 is going to look like for a lot of these guys -- just take a look at the players from 30 years ago and how they live today. OK, 20 extra games over 10 years doesn't sound like a lot, but I'm thinking if you've had 12 surgeries or six concussions or you are just some 170-pound WR not afraid to go over the middle it just sounds likes more chances to suffer the kind of injury that could be a lot worse than juts ending your career.

--