NEW YORK (AP) Atlanta Falcons coach Jim Mora has been fined
25-thousand dollars by the N-F-L for using a cell phone on the
sidelines during the team's overtime loss to Tampa Bay on December
24th.

Mora said Thursday that it was ``an expensive phone call.'' He said
he has learned his lesson.

Mora was fined under a rule adopted last March prohibiting the
use of cell phones or any other form of communications by coaches
or players on the field -- other than the regular phones used by
teams to communicate between the sideline and press box.

That was a recommendation of the league's competition committee,
the co-chairman of which is Rich McKay, Atlanta's general manager.

Two years ago, New Orleans' Joe Horn was fined 30-thousand
dollars for using a cell phone after scoring a touchdown. The N-F-L
said the fine against Mora had nothing to do with the rule under
which Horn was fined.

Mora used the phone late in overtime of the game in an attempt
to determine how a tie might affect his team's playoff chances.