Thankfully, Garcia is used to getting his bell rung at home

So Vikings DE Ray Edwards, a man who clearly doesn’t respect the game, leveled Jeff Garcia with a major shot to the head on Sunday. Edwards was four or five steps late to Garcia who had released a pass in the pocket deep in Vikings territory.

Today, the geniuses at NFL headquarters said the hit was only worthy of a $25,000 fine.

Oh, that’ll really teach Edwards, or discourage any other player. Yeah, right.

With such a flimsy fine on a ruthless head shot to a quarterback, the NFL is encouraging headhunting and teams placing a bounty on players. Buddy Ryan must be wishing he was still coaching.

In what other sport would a player get off that easy? None. What’s the harm in issuing a fine and making the guy sit out the next game without pay?

Perhaps this explains why the Bucs signed linebacker Matt McCoy again this week, after cutting him earlier this season following a DUI arrest. McCoy is the perfect goon to take out Jake DelHomme on Monday Night Football in two weeks.

Monte Kiffin can call a few early blitzes and have McCoy go full-throttle, helmet-to-helmet on DelHomme no matter what. That’ll only cost him probably $35K and maybe win the Bucs the division title.

Seems worth it to me.