Lions pulled off elaborate prank on Jed Collins after TD catch vs. Panthers
After hauling in a 73-yard touchdown pass Sunday, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton celebrated by cradling the football and rocking it back and forth in honor of his newborn baby girl.
Detroit Lions fullback Jed Collins had a very similar celebration in Week 2 after catching a 1-yard touchdown pass against the Carolina Panthers, but his was accompanied by a fine - or so he thought.
"We were watching the tape on the way home from the game, and started laughing at it," Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford told Kyle Meinke of MLive.com on Saturday. "Somebody joked, 'Thank god he didn't get called for using the ball as a prop.' "
The next day, Collins found a FedEx package tucked away in his locker-room stall. Inside was a fine for $11,000.
"I was disturbed," Collins said. "I talked to my wife right after that, and was like, 'We're going to have to start watching what we spend money on. Christmas might be a little different this year.' "
Turns out, the fine was the work of Stafford and several other Lions players. Stafford even recruited team president Tom Lewand to help out with the prank, as Lewand is familiar with the language used by the NFL in fine letters.
"Right before we went out for warmups, apparently the FedEx guy showed up," Collins recalled. "FedEx, printed up, official from the NFL, the right terminology, the right everything.
"And they let me sit on it through all of the walk-through."
Collins said very little to his teammates during practice and was visibly distraught.
"I actually had to leave the locker room because I was going to start laughing so hard," Stafford said. "He did not talk at all during the walk-through. First play in the huddle, you could tell something was on his mind."
Stafford eventually told Collins the truth.
"No. 9 brought us up after the walk-through, and said, 'The message from coach Caldwell is that we got to start playing a little smarter and not give away penalties. And by the way, Jed, that letter was from me,'" Collins said. "And then he just walked away.
"I went numb. After he told me it was fake, I went numb for probably 20 minutes, not knowing what to believe."
Collins still has the fake fine letter and said he plans to have it framed.