The NFL should be encouraging taunting, not penalizing players for it

Hey, NFL: Fans love seeing players showing emotions after big plays.

This is the online version of our morning newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. 

The powers that be in the NFL’s front office are really good at being buzzkills.

Sure, they recently allowed touchdown celebrations to go back to being fun, which is something that should have never stopped being a thing because scoring touchdowns isn’t easy and when you do score one you should be able to dance the day or night away.

Well, the NFL is back to doing something dumb – penalizing players if they appear to taunt their opponent even just a little bit after a big play or after they do something well.

Which is so darn stupid I can’t even believe it. Celebrating… I mean “taunting”… is fun!

Now, these rules aren’t new – if a player is flagged twice in a game for taunting they will be ejected. But this year the NFL is calling on the refs to be more strict on making the taunting calls because the league, the competition committee, coaches and even the NFLPA feels like there were too many taunting moments last year that didn’t get called. Players can also now face fines and even suspensions, which is just insane.

Players talking trash or waving at a defender as they run toward the end zone? WE CAN’T HAVE THAT!!! Think about how that affects, well, absolutely nobody!

The lamest of taunting calls came late in the Super Bowl last February when Bucs DB Antoine Winfield Jr. mocked Chiefs receiver Tyreeke Hill with a peace sign late in the game. Winfield was penalized and fined $7,815 for that harmless move LATE IN THE BIGGEST WIN OF HIS LIFE.

As a fan of football, and I’m far from alone here, watching players taunt each other is a really fun part of the game. They are generally harmless moments and are just some excited expressions of emotions during what is a very violent and dangerous game.

Forget about less taunting… I want more taunting! I want all the taunting!

Instead, a video emerged yesterday that showed two super lame examples of taunting that would lead to penalties. One was of a Colts receiver flexing in front of a defender after being tackled on the sideline. The other was of a Browns receiver spiking the football close to a defender after being tackled in the middle of the field.

I can’t roll my eyes enough over those two examples.

This is all a bunch of you-know-what (think about bulls and their bathroom habits) and it’s going to lead to some really bad calls by the refs that could happen at big moments of a game, moments that could decide who wins the game and who loses the game and fans are going to lose their minds over it.

That’s not going to be great for the NFL, which is getting used to fans crushing them week after week over bad calls by refs.

Now you’re going to ask the refs to be even more strict about players celebrating… I mean, taunting… after making impactful plays in a game as frantic and dangerous as professional football?

LAME.

We want the taunting, NFL! Give us the taunting! All of the taunting!

We can all handle it.

Quick hits: Gorgeous ‘Field of Dreams’ photos… Why Messi will be wearing a new number… Fantasy sleepers from each team… And more. 

– The Yankees and White Sox are playing a game tomorrow on the farm in Iowa where the movie “Field of Dreams” was made and these photos of the field they’ll be playing on are pretty sweet.

– Andrew Joseph explains why Lionel Messi will be wearing the No. 30 instead of his old No. 10 with his new team, PSG.

– Henry McKenna has a fantasy sleeper from all 32 NFL teams.

– Chris Korman perfectly explained why NFL players who aren’t getting vaccinated are doing so much harm.

– ESPN anchor Elle Duncan had a great reaction to Dennis Schroder signing a one-year deal with the Celtics.