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David NewtonNov 5, 2025, 10:17 PM ET<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>David Newton is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Carolina Panthers. Newton began covering Carolina in 1995 and came to ESPN in 2006 as a NASCAR reporter before joining NFL Nation in 2013.<\/p>\n CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carolina Panthers<\/a> running back Rico Dowdle<\/a> was fined by the NFL for his actions during a touchdown celebration in Sunday’s 16-13 upset of the Green Bay Packers<\/a> at Lambeau Field.<\/p>\n Dowdle announced the fine via social media on Wednesday night. He also posted he has partnered with GoFundMe to use his fine money for charity.<\/p>\n The fine, according to a source with knowledge of the situation, was $14,491. Dowdle’s agent, David Canter, announced on social media that the fine would be appealed.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks 1 Related<\/p>\n Dowdle celebrated his third-quarter touchdown with two pelvic thrusts as several teammates stood around him in the end zone, a nod to a 2013 “Key & Peele” comedy sketch that joked two thrusts was acceptable but three crossed the line and would warrant a flag. Dowdle’s celebration drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that led to the Panthers missing the extra-point kick.<\/p>\n “After much thought I’ve launched a GoFundMe for my fines,” Dowdle wrote on X<\/a>. “Key said I got three pumps but I guess the NFL disagrees.<\/p>\n “Actually, 100% of what is raised through this fundraiser will be sent to 56-Children’s Home Society of North Carolina. Children’s Home Society promotes the right of every child to a permanent, safe, and loving family. They specialize in education and prevention programs, family preservation, and adoption and foster care. Let’s raise some money.”<\/p>\n After Dowdle’s celebration was penalized, actor and comedian Keegan-Michael Key, who wrote the sketch for Comedy Central, posted a video on Instagram later Sunday lamenting Dowdle being penalized despite doing only two thrusts.<\/p>\n “Rico. Man, you got robbed — you only did two pumps,” Key said. “I’m sorry, man. I’m going to have to write a new sketch.”<\/p>\n According to a source, Dowdle’s teammates were not fined.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Dowdle missed Wednesday’s practice with a quad injury not related to the celebration. Coach Dave Canales<\/a> downplayed the injury, saying the team was counting on the league’s third-leading rusher to play on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David NewtonNov 5, 2025, 10:17 PM ET CloseDavid Newton is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-264801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/r1570298_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&w=130&h=130&scale=crop&location=center.jpeg\")
<\/a>![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/r1570449_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&w=130&h=130&scale=crop&location=center.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPanthers running back Rico Dowdle, right, drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after celebrating his third-quarter touchdown with two pelvic thrusts Sunday against the Packers.\u00a0Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images<\/p>\n