Pats defensive tackle Vince Wilfork has been fined for the fourth time this season.  This time, it was $5,000 for a face-mask penalty against the Chargers in the AFC title game.

“It’s bad because you go out there and you get a penalty and the first thing you say is, ‘Am I going to get fined?’ ” said Wilfork, according to the Boston Globe.  “It’s ridiculous.  Anything you do that’s a penalty, it’s a fine.  I don’t think the game should be like that, but the NFL makes the rules and we have to abide by them.  We have to do a better job of abiding by them.”

But Wilfork should still consider himself lucky for not getting fined more than $12,500 for throwing an elbow into quarterback J.P. Losman’s knee (the fine was later reduced to $10,000), and for not getting suspended for trying to stick a finger into the eye of Giants running back Brandon Jacobs.