There was another one, one of our guys hit the Seattle QB shoulder to shoulder and they were flagged. The replays plainly showed that the helmets were far from touching. These rules may make it "safer" but it takes the game out of the sport.
Throw the flag, let the booth official review to see if it was helmet to helmet and if it wasn't he can relay that it was a clean hit and the flag can be picked up, take a 10 second explanation from the ref that there was no helmet to helmet and no foul.
Bullshit call, buillshit fine if they indeed nail him for it. He should be applauded for a good, hard, yet clean hit, not flagged and potentially fined. Unfortunate.