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by Brendan Dunne
Matthew Stafford managed to find a win this week – not with the dismal Detroit Lions but in his appeal of an NFL fine over his blue cleats.
The Nike Huarache 4 cleats, which the quarterback wore during his Monday Night Football outing last week, got him a $5,787 fine, which he said he'd be fighting. Fight he did, and the Detroit Free Press reports that he's emerged victorious after a chat about the issue with NFL VP of operations Merton Hanks.
Stafford wore the same shoes this past Sunday, but avoided an additional fine by coloring them in to add more grey. Stafford explained that it was the amount of blue, not just the presence of blue, that violated league uniform guidelines.
"It's way too complicated for shoes, honestly," he said. "But it had to do with it being too much blue, I think. So I understood and I will move on with a new pair of cleats."
Stafford's decision to wear more appropriate colorways going forward means Nike probably won't get the opportunity to cook up a "Banned" colorway of these cleats.
