Edwards isn't fine with his NFL fine

Ray Edwards spoke publicly about his $25,000 fine for the first time Monday, and the Vikings defensive end didn't exactly bite his tongue.

The NFL fined Edwards last week for "two plays considered unnecessary roughness" in a 19-13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. One was a leg whip and the other was a late hit on Bucs quarterback Jeff Garcia.

Edwards made it clear he thought the punishment was too harsh.

"We signed up to play this game," he said. "Football didn't choose us, we chose it. ... We don't cry when we get crack [blocked] unexpectedly. That fine is what it is. Just got to go out there and play ball and have fun."

Edwards appealed the fine.

"That's ridiculous," he said. "One is a leg whip, which I've never heard of. OK, I can respect the first one. I hit Garcia a little late. Even during that play I told him, 'My bad. I thought you still had the ball.' He was running around like a rabbit so I didn't know if he had the ball still or not."

Vikings defensive end Jared Allen already has been fined $80,000 total for hits in three different games. Edwards said players believe the league has gone overboard in assessing fines to defensive players.

"To me, it's getting outrageous just because I feel it's slanted more toward the defense than it is the offense," he said.

Edwards said he did nothing wrong on the leg whip, which did not draw a penalty.

"It was a bootleg and I was holding the tight end up," he said. "I got around the tight end and I jumped in the air. The tight end pushed me on my back. [The quarterback] had thrown the ball. As I fell my legs hit his legs and he fell over the top of me. It's not like I jumped in the air and intentionally tried to drop-kick him or something like WWF.

"If you didn't want to get hit, you should go play soccer. No, soccer is kind of brutal, too. Maybe baseball or water polo or something like that."

Edwards said the league's vigilance on fining players will not cause him to change his approach.

"If you go out there passive-aggressive, that's when bad things happen to you," he said. "You just have to go out there and play ball and have fun. If you get a fine, you get a fine and you have to pay it.

"I'm just saying we play this game to have fun, hit people, take out aggression and just have fun. We're not playing to try and hurt anybody. This is what we've been doing since we were little kids, most of us. That's how we make our living and take care of our families. That's the hard part about getting fined. It's taking food out of your family's mouth."