Smith Gets $15,000 Fine

Carolina receiver Steve Smith was fined $15,000 Wednesday for bumping an official during the Panthers’ 24-20 loss at Dallas on Saturday, the NFL announced.

After Smith advanced a fumble and was tackled out of bounds by Terence Newman in the third quarter, he claimed he was hit a second time out of bounds. Smith yelled at line judge Mark Steinkerchner and put his arms around the official.

He was called for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and ejected.

“I grabbed the ref and said, ‘Hey, did you see that?’ You’re not supposed to touch a ref, I understand that. I wasn’t doing it to put him down,” Smith said after the game.

*

Seattle’s Shaun Alexander will leave the Seahawks today to attend a family funeral in Cincinnati but will play in Sunday’s regular-season finale at Green Bay.

Alexander is tied with Priest Holmes for the NFL season record for touchdowns rushing with 27. He also has a career-high and Seahawk-record 1,807 yards rushing, and is closing in on his first league rushing title. He leads Tiki Barber of the New York Giants by 150 yards.

*

Brian Billick will return as coach of the Baltimore Ravens next season, team owner Steve Bisciotti said during a 10-minute meeting with the players and coaching staff.

*

Two years after he was fined $30,000 by the NFL for making a choreographed cellphone call to celebrate a touchdown, New Orleans receiver Joe Horn said that Atlanta Coach Jim Mora should be fined the same amount for using a cellphone during overtime of the Falcons’ 27-24 loss at Tampa Bay on Saturday.

Mora was seen making a call as he and other team officials tried to determine what a tie would do to Atlanta’s playoff hopes.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said that the use of cellphones on the sidelines is prohibited and that Mora’s actions are under review. He did not have a timetable for a decision.

*

Washington Coach Joe Gibbs reacted sharply after Pro Bowl linebacker LaVar Arrington told the Washington Times he expects the Redskins to try to trade him or cut him in the coming months because of his high salary.

If that happens, Arrington said he might retire.

Gibbs said he had not read Arrington’s comments, but he took exception to anything that might distract the team ahead of Sunday’s game at Philadelphia. The Redskins will clinch their first playoff berth since 1999 if they beat the Eagles.

*

Facing Sunday’s season finale at Lambeau Field, Brett Favre says he still hasn’t decided whether he’ll return to the Green Bay Packers next season.

And it has occurred to him that the team might not want him back.

But Packer General Manager Ted Thompson said the team definitely wants Favre back and he’s assuming the quarterback will return.

Favre has a career-high 28 interceptions. He acknowledges he has made risky throws he wouldn’t have tried in previous seasons, attempting to make up for a rash of injuries that has cost the team many of its offensive playmakers.

*

Houston Texan running back Domanick Davis had arthroscopic knee surgery and will sit out the season finale at San Francisco. The 49ers put running back Kevan Barlow on injured reserve because of a lingering knee injury.

*

The Jacksonville Jaguars will be without defensive end Paul Spicer for Sunday’s game against Tennessee.

Spicer, second on the team with 7 1/2 sacks, injured his left hand when he hit a teammate’s helmet during pregame warmups Saturday at Houston.

*

Linebacker Angelo Crowell signed a contract extension with the Buffalo Bills. Terms of the deal were not available.