Roger Goodell needs to end these dumb taunting penalties
This is the Morning Win, by Andy Nesbitt.
We've been waiting all season for a horrible taunting call to affect the outcome of a NFL game and last night we sadly got just that as the Bears were victims of an embarrassingly bad call by a ref who has a lot of explaining to do.
But you know who else should have some explaining to do?
Roger Goodell.
The commissioner needs to hold a press conference today where he simply looks into the camera and says the awful taunting rules that the NFL has been so weirdly into this year have been wiped from the books and players, like Chicago's Cassius Marsh, can go back to celebrating big plays without the fear of having some guy in a striped shirt throw a flag and ruin a game.
I don't think I'm being overly dramatic there, either. These taunting calls are doing exactly that - ruining games. Oh, and also embarrassing the league.
Last night's call against Marsh late in the fourth quarter was an absolute joke. The Bears linebacker sacked Ben Roethlisberger on third down and it looked like the Steelers were going to have to punt while holding a 3-point lead. Marsh was understandably excited about his big play and seemed to kind of look at the Steelers sideline and then the ref threw the flag that gave Pittsburgh a first down.
That ref, who appeared to hip-check Marsh after the call, apparently thought the Bears linebacker was taunting the poor Steelers bench while celebrating a sack in the fourth quarter of a football game where guys are risking everything on every play.
Come. On.
For some reason NFL owners got upset during the offseason about taunting being too much a part of the game. Refs have been told to be more strict with the rule and make more calls because that's just what fans want - more calls by the refs to slow things down.
The taunting rule is so flawed, though. Most of these refs can't even figure out what a catch is in real time and now we're asking them to quickly judge the emotions of players on the fly and make huge calls that can't be reviewed?
That's garbage and is asking way to much from NFL refs who have enough things on their plate that they can screw up.
The NFL season is entering the second half and as we make the push to the playoffs games are only going to become more emotional and my fear is some taunting calls could play even bigger roles in games that mean much more than last night's game meant.
Goodell and the NFL need to put a stop to this immediately and they need to do it publicly so fans can know that they no longer have to worry about something so stupid impacting their team's chances of winning a game.
Do the right thing, NFL. I dare ya!
Quick hits: Jokic's ugly cheap shot… 20 best MLB free agents… Titans don't wait for Michael Buffer… And more.
- Reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic is likely going to be suspended after being ejected from last night's game for taking out Markieff Morris with a vicious cheap shot from behind.
- Charles Curtis and Blake Schuster ranked the 20 best MLB free agents predicted the best spots for them to land.
- The Titans kicked off in the middle of Michael Buffer's pregame intro at Sofi Stadium on Sunday night and I can't stop laughing at this video.
- Charles Curtis has seven guys you should be looking at on your fantasy football waiver wire.
- Here are my Week 9 NFL Awards.