“Big-Time Brock” has drawn a big-time fine… for something that seemed awfully small when it went down in the Cowboys’ season-finale loss.
Brock Hoffman, starting at right guard since the late-November injury to Zack Martin, is being fined $5,472 for unsportsmanlike conduct following a fairly innocuous play in the Cowboys’ Week 18 meeting with Washington.
The moment came just two minutes into the second quarter, on Brandon Aubrey’s 41-yard field goal that put Dallas up 6-0. After the kick sailed through the uprights, officials threw a penalty flag and called Commanders defensive end Daron Payne for unnecessary roughness.
Replays showed Payne had taken a swing at Hoffman’s head as the two untangled themselves from their blocking duties. What Hoffman might have done is mysteriously unclear.
Cowboys RG Brock Hoffman fined $5,472 for unsportsmanlike conduct after grabbing DaRon Payne’s belly (?) on this play.
— Mauricio Rodríguez (@MauNFL) January 11, 2025
No fine for Payne. pic.twitter.com/OqNHU3rPVr
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott gave the 6-foot-4-inch offensive lineman the nickname “Big-Time Brock” last season, saying, “He’s kind of an enforcer in that group, a guy that has a lot of attitude, huge passion for this game, wears it everyday. You can see it.”
But it’s tough to see what, if anything, Hoffman did to incite Payne’s vicious reaction on this play.
Even more bizarrely, Payne’s punch- egregious enough to cost the Commanders 15 yards during the game- did not incur a monetary fine at all for the veteran defender. Only Hoffman was docked for whatever happened.
