You know a rule has to be terrible if it gets NFL fans to universally agree about something, and the 2021 season’s new taunting rules appear to be just that. It needs to stop before a call directly impacts a game.
As we’ve discussed, the NFL went into the 2021 season with an added emphasis on enforcing taunting penalties. Basically, the Competition Committee — specifically John Mara — came to the conclusion that NFL players talk too much trash. They, in turn, instructed officials to call 15-yard penalties for any action that can be loosely interpreted as showing up an opponent.
It’s been an absolute mess thus far. All you need to do is take a look at some of the taunting penalties from Week 2 to know that this can’t continue.