{"id":446320,"date":"2026-02-01T01:49:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T01:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/446320\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T01:49:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T01:49:30","slug":"nfl-fines-riq-woolen-for-taunting-penalty-that-could-have-been-seahawks-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/446320\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL fines Riq Woolen for taunting penalty that could have been Seahawks disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"

It could have been the most painful one in Seattle sports history. So the Seahawks are hoping Riq Woolen learned his lesson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He, his coach and his Super Bowl-bound team have moved on.<\/p>\n

Yet Woolen is still paying for it.<\/p>\n

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The NFL fined Seattle\u2019s 2022 Pro Bowl cornerback $17,389 for taunting Los Angeles Rams players along their sideline following his break-up of a pass by Matthew Stafford late in the third quarter of the NFC championship game last weekend at Lumen Field.<\/p>\n

The fine is in line with the NFL\u2019s fines schedule<\/a> collectively bargained with its players\u2019 union. It is about $6,000 higher than the one Woolen got from the league earlier this season for taunting.<\/p>\n

Woolen\u2019s brilliant play closing on the pass and denying All-Pro wide receiver Puka Nacua the catch for a first down had the Rams preparing to punt while staying down 31-20. The Seahawks were poised to take that two-score lead into the fourth quarter, and thus control of the game late.<\/p>\n

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But Woolen followed his play by hopping, prancing and woofin\u2019 at Rams. Some of them yapped back. The official on the sideline repeatedly urged Woolen to go away from the LA. sideline. Woolen continued to talk to the Rams as he walked down the boundary.<\/p>\n

That official threw a flag on Woolen for unsportsmanlike conduct, taunting specifically.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe covering official had him walking toward and into the opponent\u2019s bench, continuing to jaw after repeated efforts by the official to have him turn away and go to his own bench,\u201d referee Clay Martin told NFL pool reporter Brady Henderson of espn.com following the game. \u201cWhen he chose not to do so, that\u2019s what rose to the level of a foul.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Martin said there was nothing specific Woolen said to incur the penalty. \u201cJust continued jawing in the opponent\u2019s bench area after being asked to walk away.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the next play after his penalty, Woolen allowed Nacua to get behind him and Stafford\u2019s pass to sail over him for a Rams touchdown. A game that should have been a two-score lead for Seattle entering the final quarter was suddenly 31-27. That set up an excruciating ending. The Seahawks escaped<\/a> a scoreless fourth quarter to earn their first Super Bowl appearance in 11 years.<\/p>\n

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On the sideline after the Rams touchdown over Woolen, rookie Nick Emmanwori angrily confronted Woolen about his penalty. Teammates Coby Bryant and Ernest Jones interceded and played peace-keepers.<\/p>\n

Emmanwori later said they are both competitors and were in an ultra-competitive situation, that the fourth-year veteran is a big brother to him.<\/p>\n

After the game, Woolen stood at his locker in front of reporters and owned his mistake.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made a great play,\u201d he said. \u201cI gotta be better than that, celebrate with my team.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd the next play, they scored a touchdown. That wouldn\u2019t have happened if I just celebrate with the team, so I gotta be smarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a taunting penalty earlier in the season, so I\u2019ve gotta be more aware of that. They\u2019re gonna call the taunt. I gotta celebrate with the team and, shoot, onto the next play.\u201d<\/p>\n

It sure helped him get past it and be philosophical because the Seahawks won, but coach Mike Macdonald focused on Woolen\u2019s strong play the latter half of this season when talking after the game about the cornerback\u2019s penalty that, had the Rams then scored on a fourth down near the goal line with 5 minutes left, could have ended Seattle\u2019s season.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLook, Riq has done a tremendous job for us,\u201d Macdonald said. \u201cYeah, you\u2019re frustrated in the moment about what\u2019s happening, but he just made an emotional decision and we got to pick him up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not the time to point (the finger), get all upset. You\u2019ve got to go play the next play and score and go rebound back and go back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Seattle<\/p>\n

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen (27) comes off the field as a ref talks to him during the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship game against the Los Angeles Rams at Lumen Field, on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Seattle.<\/p>\n

(Brian Hayes\/bhayes@thenewstribune.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It could have been the most painful one in Seattle sports history. So the Seahawks are hoping Riq…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,78519,80234,1749,3150,514,7259,18079,116799,13280,7675,82,184108,184107,62702],"class_list":["post-446320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-coby-bryant","tag-ernest-jones","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-nfl","tag-nick-emmanwori","tag-puka-nacua","tag-riq-woolen","tag-seahawks","tag-seattle","tag-sports","tag-taunting","tag-the-seahawks","tag-unsportsmanlike-conduct"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446320","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=446320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}