Next time, plan ahead

Jags fine players for tardiness caused by accident

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Posted: Thursday January 07, 1999 09:57 AM

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin fined two rookies $500 each for being late to a team meeting even though their tardiness was caused by a car accident that sent both to the hospital.

Tavian Banks and Cordell Taylor were on their way to a team meeting Saturday night when Taylor's car was involved in a one-car accident, flipping four times before hitting a guard rail on a downtown bridge.

The players were 30 minutes late to the team meeting at a downtown hotel. After the meeting, they were taken to a nearby hospital for observation.

Neither suffered major injuries and nobody else was involved. Both players were on the inactive list for last Sunday's wild-card playoff game against the New England Patriots.

Banks, a Bettendorf, Iowa, native, is a running back drafted in the fourth round out of Iowa.

Always a stickler for rules, Coughlin said Wednesday that he did not think twice about levying the fines.

"No one's more thankful for the fact that those two young men were not injured than I am," he said. "However, facts are facts and they don't cease to exist because we want to ignore them."

Neither player would comment Wednesday, leaving the coach as the only one who would go on record about the incident.

"The accident took place at a time that was very, very close to the meeting time," Coughlin said. "They were running late. They were going to be late from the meeting.

"There's a lesson to be learned here for young players. It's harsh in the short term, but it's consistent and it's the way I've always dealt with fines in the long term."

The Florida Times-Union reported that some teammates have called the NFL Players Association to lodge a formal complaint over the fines, although union representative Keenan McCardell said he had not made any calls.

"The union has been notified and we will review the situation," Carl Francis, director of communications for the NFLPA told the newspaper.

Banks had been held out since Oct. 18 with a foot injury and was expected to return for the playoff game. Taylor was used on special teams only. Neither was listed on this week's injury report.

 

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