Horn wants Falcons' Mora fined for using cell phone
 

Horn wants Falcons' Mora fined for using cell phone

SAN ANTONIO -- While the New Orleans Saints need a win to avoid matching the worst record in franchise history, wide receiver Joe Horn also has a personal victory in mind this week.

Two years after he was fined $30,000 by the NFL for making a choreographed cell phone call to celebrate a touchdown, Horn said Wednesday he wants to see Atlanta Falcons coach Jim Mora similarly fined for using a cell phone Saturday during his team's loss at Tampa Bay.

Mora was seen making a call during overtime as he and other team officials were trying to find out what effect a tie would have on the Falcons' playoff hopes. Atlanta punted late in overtime, and Tampa Bay drove to a game-winning field goal that eliminated the Falcons from the playoffs.

Horn said he wants to ask NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who is scheduled to make a long-awaited visit with the hurricane-displaced Saints on Friday, why Mora has escaped punishment from the league.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Wednesday that the use of cell phones on the sidelines is prohibited, and that Mora's actions are under review by the league. He did not have a timetable for a decision.

"I want $30,000," said Horn. "I'm not trying to player-hate coach Mora, but it shouldn't be a double-standard league. A player gets fined, then a coach should get fined under any circumstances.

"Cell phones are prohibited in the NFL. So I think coach Mora should be fined $30,000 like I was."

After catching the second of four touchdown passes in a win over the New York Giants two years ago, Horn was handed a phone by teammate Michael Lewis, who pulled it out from under the padding used to protect the goal post.

Horn was still wearing his helmet when he punched in numbers, put the phone to the earhole and spoke into it for a few seconds.

It wasn't the first time Horn has questioned Tagliabue this season.

He blasted the league for the decision to move the Saints' first scheduled home game to Giants Stadium, the home of their opponent. Two months later, he wondered aloud why the commissioner had yet to visit the team in person.

The rest of the Saints' home games were split between Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., and the Alamodome in San Antonio. Horn said he doesn't want to play at Tiger Stadium after comments earlier this year by LSU chancellor Sean O'Keefe that the university would "rather not have the games here at all."

"If LSU don't want us there, I don't want to play on their nasty field," Horn said.

The Saints (3-12) need a win in Sunday's finale at Tampa Bay to avoid tying 1999 for the worst season in franchise history. That was Mike Ditka's final year in New Orleans before Jim Haslett took over in 2000.

Haslet isn't sure what he thinks about building momentum with a season-ending victory.

"We tried that last year -- we won four in a row," said Haslett, whose team went 8-8 last season after the strong finish. "I don't know if anything can carry over because of free agency, and maybe a hurricane hitting you."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2273630

I remember the chancellor saying that. But damn Joe. lol

Jamaal Brown also expressed frustration about playing on LSU's field.

I'd say that even though the scenario is different, if the rule is no cell phones then Mora should be fined as well.

LOL. The field does seem to always be torn up and muddy.

Re: Horn wants Falcons' Mora fined for using cell phone
 

Ummm. I sure do remember the 1980 season when the team went 1-15. That was the year of the bag head and the Aints. They beat the New York Jets by one point in the second to last game of the season on the road to avoid being shut out.

And the Saints certainly do not need a win at this point. All they need to do is play compteitively and not mail it in.

SFIAH

I'm with Horn...if they don't want them there then phuck em......
That's what happens when you try to keep it in the family...haters..

Home field advantage :wink:

... I don't think Mora is going to get fined 30,000.00, if fined at all... reason being he wasn't celebratng a TD and introducing a foreign, non-NFL-licensed object into the field of play. Mora was actually trying to get information regarding his team's playoff picture, i.e., he wasn't showing off, he was conducting NFL business.

Also, Sprint is now an official NFL sponsor, so if the phone he used was either a Sprint or Nextel phone, I doubt they are going to find him anything...

He'll prob get a commercial out of it. lol

But Joe is right in a way. They don't call it the no fun league for nothing. They have strict rules in place, and enforce them vehemently on players. If the rule is no cell phones on the field or on the sidelines, that's the rule, period. There is no this scenario is different than that scenario, etc. He shouldn't get fined $30,000, but he should get fined. That's the rule.

Also, Whodi, remember that rules for coaches are different from rules for players. Players have to abide by a) their contracts and b) the CBA.

I'm obviously speaking out of my Hardberger, but I think that's how it is... in any case, I really, really dislike Mora Jr for the whiney crybaby he is, so I'm hoping for something more like $50.000.00 :)

Speaking out of my Hardberger? ROFLMFAO!!! Quote of the year right there. :lol: