Douglas Hit With $35,000 Fine

Philadelphia defensive end Hugh Douglas was fined $35,000 by the NFL on Wednesday for the hit that knocked Chicago quarterback Jim Miller out of last weekend’s playoff game.

Douglas plans to appeal the penalty.

“The refs didn’t call it and I don’t think it’s fair,” Douglas said. “That is how we have always been coached, that he’s fair game. I don’t understand. He was right in front of me. I felt he was trying to get around me to try and make the tackle and I blocked him.

“In any other situation, a quarterback never moves. They run out of bounds or get out of the way.”

Philadelphia plays at St. Louis in the NFC championship game on Sunday.

Miller separated his right shoulder during the second quarter of the Bears’ 33-19 loss to the Eagles when Douglas blocked him after he threw an interception. Miller was replaced by Shane Matthews.

Gene Washington, the NFL’s director of football operations, said Douglas violated a rule that prohibits a defender from contacting a quarterback until he becomes an active pursuer on a turnover.

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Fullback Howard Griffith has told the Denver Broncos he’s retiring because of neck injury that forced him to miss the 2001 season.

Griffith spent 11 years in the NFL and played on Denver’s Super Bowl championship teams in 1997 and 1998.

He was drafted by Indianapolis in 1991 and was on the Buffalo Bills’ and San Diego Chargers’ practice squads in 1991-92. He played two seasons each for the Carolina Panthers and L.A. Rams before joining the Broncos in 1997.

Griffith was the only fullback in NFL history to block for five single-season 1,000-yard rushers: Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary and Mike Anderson of the Broncos; Jerome Bettis of the Rams and Anthony Johnson of the Panthers.

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St. Louis Ram offensive tackle Ryan Tucker, who missed Sunday’s victory over the Green Bay Packers because of a sprained ankle, said he will return to the lineup for the NFC championship game.

Rod Jones started in place of Tucker, who was hurt in the regular-season finale on Jan. 6.

“I hated to watch the game from the sideline,” Tucker said. “That was terrible. You work all year to get there and then you can’t go.

“But the rest did me good and I’ll be ready to go this week.”

The team’s major injury concern is tackle Jeff Zgonina, who is questionable with a hyperextended elbow. But Coach Mike Martz expects Zgonina, an effective run stuffer, to play.

“It’s pretty swollen but it won’t keep him out of it,” Martz said. “They’ve got a brace for his elbow and he’ll play.”

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The Washington Redskins, having given up trying to find a general manager, officially split the job in two with the hiring of Joe Mendes as vice president of football operations.

The Redskins will now hire a director of player personnel, with Vinny Cerrato the favorite to return in that role.

Mendes was the team’s chief contract negotiator until he resigned, citing burnout, just before the start of the 2000 season. He has spent the last two years working with player agents.