O'Hara's Fine

Physically, he's okay. But that's not the kind of fine we're talking about. This is about his appeal of the 15 grand the NFL took from him for trying to belt out Trent Cole in the closing seconds last week.

O'Hara maintained today that the fine was excessive, at best.

"I was surprised," O'Hara said about the arrival of the league's letter informing him of the fine. "The only thing to do is go through the process and appeal it. I hope they find me to be justified.

"Usually, they try to be pretty specific about which rule you broke, but I really felt like this one was a little more general. I'm gonna do what I'm supposed to do, do what feels right. As of right now, I've already kind of put it behind me and put all my focus on Washington."

O'Hara defended his tussle with Trent Cole.

"I know it was a very physical game, and there were a lot of things that escalated up to that point," he said. "I'm always going to stick up for myself and stick up for my teammates. There was certainly some pushing and shoving, but I felt like the pushing and shoving was going both ways and was escalating."

O'Hara said in his experience, fines that are appealed during the season don't find final resolution until February. But the center will be a little lighter in the wallet, anyway, since the league requires the player to pay the fine, and then get reimbursed if the decision falls in his favor.

"Yeah, it's bass-ackwards," O'Hara said. "You're guilty until proven innocent. The Christmas presents are going to be a little disappointing this year."

Meanwhile, here's O'Hara talking about the need to transfer some of the good the offense did the last two games to Monday night, regardless of what the Cowboys do against the Saints on Saturday.

EP