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Last Sunday, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was ejected for throwing a towel at a referee.A week before that, Dolphins receiver Jarvis Landry took a running start at a defender who couldnt see him, slammed his shoulder into the players neck and sent him to the hospital. Landry played on after a 15-yard penalty and later received a $24,000 fine.These two snapshots -- polar opposites in both the players actions and the NFLs response -- underscore one of the leagues most difficult issues. Faced with an ever-growing concussion crisis, it talks tough about curbing illegal hits, especially those above the shoulders. Yet it uses its most-stringent penalty for those sorts of infractions -- the suspension -- very infrequently compared to the number of relatively inconsequential fines it hands out.What do you do when you want to punish somebody? You take something away, Jaguars tight end Marcedes Lewis said. The money, yeah, cool, but depending on who you are, youre good as far as the money goes anyway because you know its going to keep coming. When you take somebody out of the game, I think thats harsher.Its not to say the league is shy about ejecting and suspending players. Since the start of 2016 through Week 7, 47 have been suspended a total of 219 games and docked more than $18 million, according to the website spotrac.com.But of those suspensions, the majority were for drug use or legal- and violence-related issues off the field. A four-game ban went to Tom Brady for Deflategate. And spotrac.com lists only one illegal-hit suspension -- for three games -- which went to Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict after his vicious hit to Steelers receiver Antonio Browns head in last seasons melee of a playoff game.Meanwhile, spotrac.com lists 55 fines handed out in 2016 for violations including impermissible use of the helmet, roughing the passer, and blindside blocks the likes of which Landry delivered to unsuspecting Aaron Williams of the Bills. Williams crumpled to the ground and had to be transported to the hospital. Those infractions resulted in the single suspension (Burfict) and an average fine of $16,500 in a league with an average annual salary of $1.9 million. Thats an average of 0.8 percent of a players salary.Maybe we need to look at our rules a little better, Bills coach Rex Ryan said after the hit on Williams. Maybe, having a guy who targets and deliberately does something like that, the right thing to do is to eject the player from the game and maybe part of another game.That is the rule in college football, which also can use replay to pass final judgment on the legality of a hit.After the hit on Williams, for which Landry expressed remorse, NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino told NFL Total Access it wouldve been a difficult call to eject Landry because its still a football play, and its tough to read intent there. He conceded we have few automatic ejections in the game today.The NFL did not make Blandino available to The Associated Press for this story. Instead it referenced a portion of the league rulebook that has been rewritten over the past few years to reflect its emphasis on curbing helmet-first, above-the-shoulders and other illegal hits that used to be celebrated but are now viewed in a different light.Ten years ago, when I came into the league ... the sky was the limit when it came to hits, said two-time Pro Bowl defensive back Michael Griffin of the Panthers. You lived for hits like that.Griffin served a one-game suspension as a repeat offender of hits to the head while with the Titans in 2013, the first season of the newly toughened hitting rules. When asked this week to reflect on the suspension, the first words out of Griffins mouth were: That cost me too much money. That cost me $205,000.But he said the suspension helped change his outlook, in part because if you cant play within the (rules), theyll find somebody else to do it.The increased emphasis on technique and safety has undoubtedly played into the decline in fines for hits on defenseless players, which is one subset of the hits the AP reviewed as part of the spotrac.com numbers. The NFL says there were 40 such fines in 2012, and only 10 in 2015. Yet, the leagues ability to police the violence this season came under scrutiny as early as Game 1, when MVP Cam Newton received four hits to the head in the season opener against the Broncos, none of which resulted in penalty yardage.Darian Stewart delivered one of those hits, then one the next week to Andrew Luck. Hes been fined a total of $27,000 for the hits -- a tad more than 1 percent of his 2016 base salary.No suspensions.Newton has complained to the NFL, going all the way to Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss. This week, Newtons coach, Ron Rivera, echoed Ryan, saying it might be time to crack down harder.Steelers defensive end Cam Heyward, the teams union representative, says the players would appreciate more clarity.Theres so many gray lines. Everybody is always waiting for someone, or what Goodell is going to say, Heyward said. If you have a set rule and a set amount and how its going to be addressed, I think youll see more clarity and youre not going to have to deal with those (questionable hits).The NFL has resorted to a more-direct approach before.In 2010, after a rash of helmet-to-helmet hits, the league made a midseason adjustment and put the possibility of suspension front and center in an emergency effort to halt the violence. Predictably, defensive players complained -- then, after a week that included $175,000 in fines, nobody was suspended.Since then, a total of 10 players have been suspended for illegal hits and other over-the-top physical play on the field, according to spotrac.com. Four of those suspensions, including Griffins, came in 2013. Another four have come over the past three seasons.One observer believes player safety is only one of a multitude of issues the NFL has to consider when it decides which penalties to levy.As much as the league wants and needs to get rid of dirty plays and players, they dont want to take actions that compromise, or even appear to compromise, the actual contests themselves, said Doug Hartmann , a sociology professor at University of Minnesota, who teaches a course on sports in society. Fines and such, in other words, have much less impact on actual games and outcomes than suspensions or expulsions.---This story has been corrected to fix the name of the website, spotrac.com.---AP Sports Writers Steve Reed in Charlotte, Will Graves in Pittsburgh and Mark Long in Jacksonville contributed to this report.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Ray Spalding Jersey . -- Ken Appleby made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season to lead the Oshawa Generals to a 2-0 win over the Belleville Bulls on Wednesday in Ontario Hockey League action. Cheap NBA Jerseys . -- Jaye Marie Green shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday to increase her lead to five strokes after the second round of the LPGA Tours qualifying tournament. http://www.cheapmavericksjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-kostas-antetokounmpo-jersey . Listen to the game live on TSN Radio 1050 at 7pm et. The Raptors traded Rudy Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray to the Sacramento Kings on Monday, in exchange for Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes. Luka Doncic Jersey . Miller reached right to deflect Mikhail Grabovskis attempt with just over 2 minutes remaining in regulation, and then made two more saves in the shootout Sunday to give the Sabres a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals. Cheap Mavericks Jerseys China . Meanwhile, there were huge victories for Sunderland and West Ham over fellow relegation rivals, leaving the battle to avoid the drop up for grabs with the bottom 11 teams separated by just six points. Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres scored second-half goals to seal a fourth straight victory for Chelsea, which climbed above Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings ahead of their games on Monday and Sunday respectively. ORLANDO, Fla. -- A look at the some of the highlights from the three games played Wednesday at the Orlando Summer League.WHITE HOTThe Orlando Magic White continue to be dominant during this weeks Orlando Summer League. Orlandos second team improved to 3-0 with Wednesdays 95-90 victory over the New York Knicks at Amway Center.The Magic had four of five starters score in double figures. Forward Treveon Graham led the way with 19 points while guard Justin Dentmon added 18.STOCK RISINGOklahoma City Thunder second-year point guard Cameron Payne is showing some explosive ability during this weeks games.He is second in scoring through three games, averaging 20 points. Payne, who was the Thunders first-round pick (14th overall) out of Murray State in 2015, scored 19 points Wednesday to lead Oklahoma City to an 89-71 victory over the Indiana Pacers.FOUL MOODThe Magic and Knicks played a relatively close game with five lead changes and four ties Wednesday, but the difference came down to free throws.ddddddddddddOrlando attempted 20 more free throws than New York, while converting 29 compared to 18 by the Knicks in the five-point win. Michael Frazier went 8 for 10 off the bench, while Patricio Garino converted 6 of 7 free throws on the day for Orlando.The Knicks shot nearly 82 percent (18 of 22) from the free throw line, while the Magic made just 69 percent (29 of 42) of their free throws.THURSDAYS MATCHUPIn Orlando, the Dallas Mavericks take on the Orlando Magic Blue, the Los Angeles Clippers face the Orlando Magic White, and the Detroit Pistons play the Miami Heat. In Salt Lake City, the Boston Celtics face the San Antonio Spurs, and the Philadelphia 76ers meet the Utah Jazz. ' ' '