{"id":298108,"date":"2025-11-18T01:08:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T01:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/298108\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T01:08:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T01:08:24","slug":"the-nfl-needs-to-cool-it-with-the-celebration-penalties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/298108\/","title":{"rendered":"The NFL Needs To Cool It With The Celebration Penalties"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a crucial situation in the NFL\u2019s marquee game of the week. The Lions had been unable to do anything on offense<\/a>, but their defense had played well enough to keep them within a score of the reigning Super Bowl champions. Then the Lions finally did it. They broke through with a big play. And then the refs called a bullshit penalty.<\/p>\n

The worst call in the Eagles\u2019 16-9 win over the Lions wasn\u2019t the pass interference call<\/a> on Detroit CB Rock Ya-Sin that iced the game with two minutes left. And that was an awful call! Lions fans should spend all week whining about it on either<\/a> Costa & Jansen with Heather or The Mike Valenti Show with Rico. It was such a bad call that my dad texted me that he agreed with Cris Collinsworth\u2019s assessment that, if anything, it was offensive pass interference on AJ Brown.<\/p>\n

\"AI had to look these show names up, obviously. They somehow all sound like a hacky joke about a sports talk show name and eminently plausible.<\/p>\n

The worse penalty actually came after Detroit\u2019s biggest play, a 40-yard Jared Goff touchdown pass<\/a> to Jameson Williams that capped the Lions\u2019 only successful drive of the night. The Lions did basically nothing in the first half until Goff completed a 34-yard pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown. On the next play, Williams took a route across the field and outran everyone for the score. He celebrated by jumping onto the stanchion of the goalposts and giving it a big hug.<\/p>\n

The Lions had tied the score at six, but they wouldn\u2019t go ahead. Williams got a 15-yard celebration penalty for what appeared to be an expression of legitimate excitement after his long touchdown. There was no taunting or choreography or any obvious foresight; it was just the absolute opposite of what Vai Sikahema used to do<\/a> after scoring a touchdown. The flag pushed Detroit’s extra point back 15 yards, and Jake Bates missed it. The Eagles would score their next possession and never trail the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

And this was not even the stupidest celebration flag thrown on Sunday! After a catch against the 49ers on Sunday, Trey McBride celebrated<\/a> by doing what the NFL calls<\/a> the \u201cnose wipe\u201d\u00a0gesture. This celebration was one specifically targeted by the league in an offseason memo. I will share this wonderful sentence<\/a> from the Daily Mail for the reasoning: \u201cPer NBC Sports, the \u2018nose wipe\u2019 gesture has been associated with the Bloods street gang and indicates that someone is not trustworthy.\u201d I looked it up and am happy to report Mike Florio and Chris Simms have had at least one three-minute discussion<\/a> about \u201cwhy the \u2018nose wipe\u2019 celebration is linked to a gang gesture.\u201d My editor asked me to watch this video and I declined.<\/p>\n

I would argue that when CeeDee Lamb does a stupid cocaine celebration after a score it becomes troubling due to its associations with an even worse gang, the Dallas Cowboys. When McBride does it, it absolutely does not matter in terms of the game\u2019s result. Arizona was only beating the 49ers on Sunday if the game was played in a different universe. Perhaps that universe is also one where someone joins a gang based on a Trey McBride touchdown celebration that has a tenuous connection to a gang\u2014I am speculating here\u2014and if the NFL\u2019s powerful stance against normalizing alleged gang symbols prevents a resurgence of college kids doing the West Side hand thing at a fraternity \u201cPimps and Hoes\u201d parties, then perhaps the rule will have brought some good into the world. But, again, I am speculating.<\/p>\n

I do not think it is worth a 15-yard penalty, though. This offseason, the NFL announced it\u2019d be \u201cemphasizing sportsmanship and cracking down on violent and sexually suggestive gestures.\u201d It included this quote from NFL officiating rules analyst Walt Anderson: \u201cUnsportsmanlike gestures like simulating or either shooting a gun or brandishing a gun, or inappropriate gestures like a throat slash, or unfortunate sexual gestures, those were up 133 percent, so that is a point of emphasis.\u201d I\u2019m going to need to see the data on this one, Walt. I\u2019m old, so please send it to me in Excel. Don\u2019t make me learn R.<\/p>\n

We have now reached the part of the story where the writer is supposed to place something to the effect of, \u201cOf course, players should avoid doing this and other outlawed celebrations to avoid a 15-yard penalty.\u201d No. Bzzt. Wrong. I\u2019m not doing that. These penalties are stupid. The refs shouldn\u2019t call them even if they\u2019re on the books. Look up \u201cjury nullification.\u201d The broader culture rerunning the 1990s has gone on long enough. I don\u2019t need a Charles Barkley-style debate on sportsmanship, too.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s something else Anderson said in August: \u201cThere are plenty of ways for players to be able to celebrate, and they come up with some very unique and often entertaining ways, so we want them to focus on those and not the inappropriate areas.\u201d Right. One unique and entertaining celebration was one the NFL has highlighted on its YouTube page<\/a>: Aaron Rodgers referencing a 2013 Key & Peele bit called \u201cExcessive Celebration<\/a>\u201d after a touchdown run in 2020. That\u2019s a reference everyone can enjoy, even given the usual Rodgers time-buffer; for context, one of his other signature bits that season was a reference to the 2002 cinematic classic Austin Powers in Goldmember fans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Carolina Panthers RB Rico Dowdle got a 15-yard flag<\/a> for the same celebration. Dowdle even said that he\u2019d seen other players do it without being penalized, though by rule I do think it\u2019s a good judgment call by the ref: Five years after Aaron Rodgers did it, repeating that celebration is no longer unique or entertaining. Then again, NFL partner Fox has highlighted on its YouTube page<\/a> the Patriots doing the same gag this season.<\/p>\n

As with Williams\u2019s penalty last night, the Dowdle flag pushed the extra point attempt back. Ryan Fitzgerald was short, which allowed the Packers to tie the game late in the fourth with a touchdown and extra point. Carolina hit a FG at the gun to win, but Dowdle\u2019s penalty was relevant enough to the game that it made the first sentence in the AP game recap<\/a>. This is still better than referencing Goldmember<\/a>, but also it is an inconsistent, arbitrary mess.<\/p>\n

Sunday night\u2019s game included a player on one team hugging the goalposts in celebration after a touchdown. The other team\u2019s entire defense gathered in the end zone for a skit that referenced Shawn Michaels\u2019s superkick finishing maneuver<\/a> after a Cooper DeJean interception. \u201cWe\u2019ve had it planned out for a while,\u201d DeJean said. \u201cI wish the setup was better. I wish I\u2019d finished it and got on top and get the three count.\u201d He should keep his head up. I\u2019m old enough to remember when Michaels used the teardrop suplex; I\u2019ve seen worse match finishes.<\/p>\n

Based on my understanding of the rules, these were the correct calls, and hugging the goalpost was \u201cunsportsmanlike.\u201d I do not care. The rule sucks! The NFL creates arbitrary rules about this sort of thing\u2014it used to be against the rules to go the ground in celebrations, it used to be illegal<\/a> to use the football as a prop\u2014and those nonsense rules end up influencing not just the outcome of the game but how people remember it. Just like with Dowdle, Williams\u2019\u00a0penalty ended up being one of the game\u2019s storylines; the flag led to the Detroit Free Press calling<\/a> him \u201cone of the most frustrating players in the league\u201d specifically because he jumped into the goalposts after a touchdown. Collinsworth called him \u201cimmature\u201d on the most-watched show on television, like it was the final act of a Cosby Show episode 40 years ago. This was a little funnier than that, but none of it had to happen.<\/p>\n

If this is your hobbyhorse, as it is mine, no doubt you have your favorites. Mine came in the 2004 Eagles-Browns game, when Terrell Owens got a 15-yard penalty for ripping down a sign<\/a> that had a drawing of him as a rat. (He had celebrated another touchdown that game by throwing the football at a sign that said \u201cT.O. has B.O.\u201d That did not receive a flag.) Michael Thomas\u2019s cell phone celebration<\/a> was a clever tribute to Joe Horn’s cell phone celebration. It received a rebuke from Michael Strahan on the postgame show<\/a>: \u201cWhen you do the prop, because there is also a manner of respect when you score a touchdown.\u201d Collinsworth, to his credit, is simply a defender of The Rules. When DeSean Jackson got a penalty for falling into the end zone<\/a> after a 91-yard touchdown catch, Collinsworth argued<\/a> it was not a penalty as he dove into the end zone rather than celebrating with a post-TD flop.<\/p>\n

But the rules are stupid. One can imagine a universe where Williams is praised for calling attention to the NFL\u2019s \u201cSalute to Service\u201d logo on the goalposts and the league makes an ad campaign about hugging the troops as a result. One could also imagine this universe being a little less uptight about this sort of thing. Making hard and fast rules for how to celebrate is stupid, and these celebration penalties are awful. They should stop calling all of them. I realize my stance here does not leave much room for debate. I don\u2019t care. I\u2019m right. And don\u2019t get me started on these freaking taunting penalties.<\/p>\n

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