'Nobody wants to see a player taunting another player': New York Giants owner John Mara backs NFL's new taunting rule

This season, the NFL has instructed officials to place added emphasis on enforcing taunting penalties. And we’ve already seen that play out in the preseason with some awfully weak calls.

If the emphasis carries on into the regular season, we’ll undoubtedly see a questionable taunting call impact a game - it’s inevitable. We’ll have the NFL Competition Committee to thank for that because they got “tired” of seeing all the talking, apparently.

During a press conference on Tuesday, 66-year-old Giants owner and Competition Committee member John Mara answered a question about the vote to ramp up the taunting penalties. Mara said that they didn’t want to take the fun out of the game, but at the same time, the committee members didn’t want to see players taunt each other.

"That's something we discuss every year in the Competition Committee. We get kind of sick and tired of the talking that does go on from time to time on the field," Mara said. "We tried to balance the sportsmanship with allowing the players to have fun and there's always a fine line there, but none of us like to see that. 

"It's just a question of whether you can have rules that can be enforced and without taking the fun out of the game too, but nobody wants to see a player taunting another player. I know, I certainly don't. I think the rest of the members of the Competition Committee feel the same way, too."

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The problem with that is that we’re seeing penalties for interactions that hardly rise to the level of taunting. A player flexing or celebrating around an opponent shouldn’t constitute a penalty in a physically challenging and emotional game like professional football.

Plus, taunting is fun. Fans enjoy it. It’s part of the show. Why is John Mara telling fans what they want to see?

Follow For The Win's Andrew Joseph on Twitter @AndyJ0seph.

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