The NFL needs to get its act together when it comes to actions taken by players after scoring touchdowns.
Celebrating with props is either forbidden or it isn’t. It shouldn’t be prohibited whenever the league chooses to prohibit it, and to look the other way when the NFL decides that the P.R. fallout isn’t worth it.
When Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill grabbed a phone and recorded a backflip after scoring a touchdown earlier this season, he undoubtedly would have been fined — if an NFL-owned social-media account hadn’t posted (and deleted) video of the move. (The league still bizarrely revoked the credentials of the person from whom Hill got the camera.) And the league has decided to look the other way, sometimes, on celebrations based on the Salvation Army kettles that the Cowboys put near the field as of Thanksgiving.
For any rules created by any organization, it’s important to have a clear standard that is consistently applied. If props are OK some of the time, they should be OK all of the time.
Why shouldn’t they be OK all of the time? What’s the harm? It’s fun. Let the players have fun. Let the fans have fun.
If it’s OK some of the time, it should be OK all of the time. The NFL should remove the prop in the form of a stick from its rear end, and let players use props to celebrate whenever they choose.
