From Chad Johnson to Terrell Owens to Joe Horn, the new version of the NFL has had players that were willing to celebrate after a big score. They instituted fines to try and deter some of the best in the game from celebrating their own accomplishments. Most recently, Antonio Brown has taken over as the primary “showman” in the league. After multiple fines though, will he change his ways?
— Alex Iniguez (@alexiniguez) October 3, 2016
According to the NFL, they need to penalize these types of celebrations. Brown was fined 24k for the incident and was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The NFL explained to Mike Tomlin that the move was “sexually suggestive” and that was why the flag was thrown.
If that is sexually suggestive, I really hope that Brown doesn’t pull out some other ‘Key and Peele’ inspired moves. He will be in for a world of hurt then.
Brown was obviously none to happy about the fine and gave a poignant quote to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“We need more clarification in regards to what we can and can’t do,” Brown said. “I don’t think excessive celebrating should cost more than guys hitting other guys in the helmet. Twenty-four thousand for a guy scoring a touchdown and having fun [is more] than hitting a guy in the head and targeting with the helmet. There should be some differentiation and clarification in what we can do.”
The comments in regard to the hits to the helmet are sandwiched in between his thoughts on the celebrations. He brings up a salient point, if the league is really trying to crack down on helmet to helmet hits, why are the fines still so meager at least compared to fines for something as trivial as twerking?
Putting it into the context Brown did makes for an awkward conversation between the players association and the NFL front office. A serious dialog needs to take place between the league and it’s players, we know how concussions are hurting the players but how are celebrations hurting the league? Let’s hope this thought doesn’t get lost in translation.
