Jalen Carter Faces Another Fine After Unflagged Shots at Spann-Ford on Monday Night Football

The flag never came, and that is why everyone is still talking about it. Jalen Carter’s shots at Brevyn Spann-Ford were plain to see on the Monday Night Football replay, plain enough for Troy Aikman to call them out live, and yet the officials let play continue. The league’s review process now has to do what the officials on the field did not, and Carter’s record means nobody expects it to shrug.

What happened between Carter and Spann-Ford?

Carter struck Spann-Ford in the face and shoved his neck after the whistle. The sequence came during a Javonte Williams run in the third quarter, with Dallas trailing 21-20, while Spann-Ford was tasked with blocking Carter. Heavy reports that the two kept things going after the play was over, when Carter struck Spann-Ford in the face and followed that up with another shove to his neck. No flag was thrown. The incident was not part of a tackle or a block; it was the extra bit after the play, which is exactly the kind of thing the league’s postgame review exists to catch.

What did Troy Aikman say on the broadcast?

Aikman said Carter would be hearing from the league. As the replay ran, the Monday Night Football analyst said: “Here is Jalen Carter taking a shot at Brevyn Spann-Ford, a couple of shots. He will be hearing from the league.” Joe Buck and Aikman both pointed out that Carter likely had a fine coming his way, Heavy reports. Broadcasters call out missed calls every week, but a direct prediction of league discipline carries more weight when it comes from the booth in prime time, and it set the terms for everything that followed.

Has the NFL fined Carter yet?

No, and the distinction between expected and announced matters here. Heavy reports that a first-time offense for striking, kicking, tripping or kneeing an opponent carries a $12,537 fine on the league schedule, rising to $18,507 for a second offense, and notes that Carter has not been fined this season. That is the schedule figure, not a punishment the league has imposed. The league normally publishes its weekly fines after reviewing the games, so the announcement should come in the days after Monday night. Until it does, any report of a specific Carter fine for this incident is getting ahead of the process.

Why does Carter’s history change how this is read?

Because this is not a first-time offender learning a lesson. Heavy lists five career fines for Carter: $11,473 for unnecessary roughness against Kansas City in November 2023, $16,937 against San Francisco in December 2023, $17,445 for an open-handed blow to Tyler Biadasz in the NFC Championship Game in January 2025, $57,222 for spitting on Dak Prescott in the 2025 season opener, and $11,593 for taunting in September 2025. The spitting case is the one that defines him in this rivalry: he was ejected before the first snap against these same Cowboys, and the ejection counted as a one-game suspension with time served. A player with that file does not get the benefit of the doubt when the replay shows two shots after the whistle. The league has shown it will act on conduct around officials and opponents alike, as when Dre Greenlaw was suspended a game for headbutting a helmetless opponent, and when C.J. Gardner-Johnson was suspended for spitting at an opponent.

Did the incident affect the game itself?

Dallas answered on the scoreboard almost immediately. A few plays after the incident, CeeDee Lamb caught a 16-yard touchdown to put the Cowboys up 28-21, Heavy reports, and Dallas went on to win 38-21 at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles fell to 2-5 on a five-game losing streak, ClutchPoints reports, with backup quarterback Tanner McKee starting while Jalen Hurts is sidelined. Prescott picked apart the secondary for 212 passing yards and three touchdowns, and Williams ran for 155 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. Carter finished with no sacks, A to Z Sports notes, which is a thin return for a player Philadelphia pays as a cornerstone of its defense. The shots at Spann-Ford did not lose the game by themselves, but they fit a night when the Eagles’ defense folded in front of a home crowd.

Why did Carter refuse to speak after the game?

Carter and cornerback Riq Woolen both declined to talk to the media and quietly exited the locker room after the loss, ClutchPoints reports. The silence fits a team whose frustration is now visible: a defense that surrendered 38 points, a five-game losing streak, and a star defensive tackle facing another fine. Woolen had his own rough night, with the Cowboys repeatedly targeting him, and his silence matched Carter’s. Neither player has publicly addressed the Spann-Ford incident. That leaves the league’s fine announcement as the next development, and it will say more than either player did on Monday night.

What happens next for Carter and the Eagles?

The league decides, and the Eagles wait. If the fine lands at the schedule figure, it will be a footnote to a losing season. If the league goes further, citing Carter’s record, it becomes a statement about repeat offenders. The pattern around this team is already familiar: Philadelphia has now been at the centre of two broadcast officiating arguments in two days, after Tom Brady’s on-air criticism of two Packers roughing flags reopened his own fine question, and after Detroit’s players danced in Green Bay’s faces with no flag days after a flexing fine. The Eagles also know what an opening-kickoff meltdown looks like, having watched two players get ejected on the opening kickoff in London. For Carter, the immediate question is narrower: whether Monday night’s shots cost him money, and whether his silence afterward helps or hurts when the league makes its call.