Tag: Taunting

Steelers fans react to penalty-filled Week 13 Steelers’ victory

Fans react to the penalty-filled Week 13 game, where the Steelers overcame miscues and missed calls to secure a win over the Bengals.

While the Pittsburgh Steelers dominated on offense in their Week 13 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, one negative aspect could not be ignored: penalties. A total of 29 penalties were committed by both teams, with 20 being accepted.

The Pittsburgh Steelers players most responsible for their team’s penalty woes were found on both sides of the football, as none other than WR George Pickens and CB Joey Porter Jr. stood out.

Pickens was responsible for 30 penalty yards, while Porter gave the Bengals 57 yards on significant pass interference and defensive holding penalties.

The officiating, however, was not without controversy. The Cincinnati Bengals were essentially gifted a pick-six on a missed call, where CB Cam Taylor-Britt swung Pickens by the helmet to the ground, positioning himself perfectly with no penalty called.

With this in mind, fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers, while satisfied with their team’s victory in Week 13, were understandably frustrated by the penalties. Whether minor, flagrant, or a no-call, here are some of the best fan reactions to the penalty-filled game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.

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George Pickens continues to rack up personal fouls

George Pickens continues to struggle with poor decisions on the field.

We said last week that Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens isn’t talented enough to be such a red flag in games. How much on-field nonsense the Steelers can tolerate has to be balanced out by production and for Pickens, those things aren’t happening.

Barely through two quarters against the Cincinnati Bengals, Pickens already has two personal fouls, one of with was a taunt. This put him on notice that another personal foul of that type would result in an ejection. Fortunately for Pickens, when he got an unsportsmanlike penalty for a finger-gun celebration, the officials decided it didn’t fall into the same category.

Last week Pickens refused to talk to the media after getting into a fight at the end of the Steelers loss to the Cleveland Browns on the team’s final play. If the Steelers can’t find a way to win this one, Pickens will once again have to answer for his behavior and its impact on the team.

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C.J. Gardner-Johnson lost half his Saints game check in fines to the NFL

C.J. Gardner-Johnson lost half of his game check from Week 3’s win over the Saints in fines to the NFL. That’s some expensive trash talk:

You don’t see this very often. Philadelphia Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson was fined three times by the NFL for his actions in Week 3’s win over the New Orleans Saints, losing half his game check for an illegal hit and two taunting infractions. He was a little too eager to get after his old team for his own good.

It had previously been reported that Gardner-Johnson was being fined for unnecessary roughness; he made a late hit on Saints running back Alvin Kamara after the play went out of bounds, and that came up to $11,255. But a league review found two instances of Gardner-Johnson crossing the line in taunting his opponents, which cost him two charges of $16,883 each.

Add that up and it’s $45,021 coming out of Gardner-Johnson’s paycheck. He has a base salary of $1,375,000 this year, per Over The Cap, which comes up to 17 weekly game checks of about $80,882 each (before taxes). So Gardner-Johnson really lost a little more than half of his game check because he was too hot under the collar. That’s some expensive trash talk. For his sake, it’s a good thing the late touchdown he gave up to Chris Olave didn’t cost Philly the game on top of it.

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Steelers WR George Pickens fined for taunting vs Bengals

George Pickens drew a big fine for a small play in last week’s game.

Last week Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens had his best game as a professional and was living his best life on the field. According to the NFL, he was living a little too good as they handed down a big fine to Pickens for a taunt during one of his two long touchdowns.

Pickens caught touchdowns of 86 and 66 yards on Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals. On the 66-yarder, Pickens turned back to stare down the Cincinnati defense the last three yards of his run and it cost him $16,391 for it.

This week Pickens and the rest of the Steelers hope to see more of him celebrating huge touchdowns as the Steelers take on the Seattle Seahawks in a must-win game. On the season, Pickens has 56 catches for 1,0009 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns. Pickens also has one rushing touchdown.

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Steelers RB Najee Harris said he nearly got taunting penalty vs Rams

Two Steelers drew taunting penalties on Sunday and there was almost a third.

On Sunday, two different Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers got taunting penalties for taking things too far after a play. George Pickens and Diontae Johnson both drew flags for lapses in judgment that could have cost the Steelers the game. Both guys were fortunate they didn’t have more significant ramifications.

Running back Najee Harris said that he was close to getting a penalty for something similar in that same game.

“I almost had one,’ Harris said. “They said I was talking to the guy. They should know the difference between guys competing and guys saying stuff to hurt someone. We’re just competing. It’s competitive. You might have a little chit-chat. We just have to find a balance where it’s too much and when it’s not.”

One point that I think is important. It is not the officials’ responsibility to differentiate. It’s your responsibility to handle yourself with professionalism and worry less about jawing with opponents and more about playing better football.

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WATCH: Sean Payton gets a dig in on the Falcons’ expense ahead of AFC title game

The AFC title game won’t be played in Atlanta’s neutral site after all, and former Saints coach Sean Payton couldn’t help but get a dig in on the Falcons’ expense:

The NFL was tripping over itself to market the possibility of a neutral-site AFC championship game, but that won’t be happening with the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals advancing to the conference title game. If the Buffalo Bills hadn’t gotten stomped by multiple scores in front of a home crowd, they would have squared off with the Chiefs at the Atlanta Falcons’ Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

News of the scheduling update broke on the FOX Sports NFL Sunday pregame show, which prompted former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton to bow in from almost out of frame, chuckling “Atlanta misses the playoffs?”

Payton embraced the Saints-Falcons rivalry like few coaches before him, delighting in running up the score to help his players set new records and earn lucrative contract bonuses. He enjoyed riffing on opposing players and fans, and once recorded an iconic commercial at the Falcons’ expense. It’s something that’s missed without him leading the operation in New Orleans, but as we saw on Sunday, old habits — and grudges — die hard.

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Jaguars WR Marvin Jones Jr. fined for taunting Colts

A taunting penalty called on Jaguars receiver Marvin Jones Jr. reportedly cost him a decent chunk of change.

A 15-yard taunting penalty picked up by Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr. in Week 2 also cost him a decent chunk of change.

According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, Jones received a $10,609 fine from the league this week. A second taunting penalty this season would result in a $15,914 fine for Jones, per the collective bargaining agreement.

Jones, 32, picked up the penalty after taking hits from a pair of Indianapolis Colts defenders that knocked his helmet off and drew an unnecessary roughness penalty. Jones stood up, flexed, and was later shown on the broadcast yelling at the Colts players.

Taunting called on Jones resulted in offsetting penalties, but didn’t slow the Jaguars drive which ended with a touchdown eight plays later.

Jones, who signed a two-year, $12.5 million deal with the Jaguars last year, finished the game with three receptions for 33 yards. He has seven receptions for 71 through the first two games of the season.

It’s unknown if Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin was fined for the unnecessary roughness penalty.

A ridiculous taunting penalty on Matt Ryan led to the costliest sequence for the Falcons

Of course.

If there was one team that was going to see its season impacted by the new taunting rules, it was probably going to be the Atlanta Falcons. They simply can’t catch a break, ever.

The Falcons — despite being an objectively bad football team — went into Sunday’s Week 17 game in Buffalo with a slim (but not impossible) chance of making the playoffs. They needed a win over the Bills and some help from the Eagles and Niners. And with just over five minutes to go in the game, it appeared that Matt Ryan trimmed the deficit to a touchdown with a scramble into the end zone.

But alas, a laughable combination of NFL rules would essentially end the Falcons’ season.

After the touchdown, Ryan exchanged some words with the Bills’ Jordan Poyer and was called for a taunting penalty because the NFL hates fun. At first, the taunting penalty wasn’t going to be costly — Falcons got their touchdown. The taunting was after the play.

About that ….

The touchdown went to review during the commercial break, and it was ruled that Ryan started his dive and was down shy of the end zone. So, the touchdown was wiped away, but the taunting penalty on Ryan would stand. The would-be touchdown became third-and-goal from the 16, and the Falcons would turn the ball over on downs.

That sequence ended up being enough to deflate any hope of a Falcons comeback. Atlanta would lose, 29-15, and officially get eliminated from playoff contention.

And, of course, it happened in the most Falcons way possible.

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The NFL gave us another lame taunting penalty, this time on a pointing Clyde Edwards-Helaire

Clyde Edwards-Helaire technically did break the taunting rules, but it still sucks.

The NFL refuses to let us enjoy the full personalities of the players in the game. Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire scored a touchdown against the Cowboys and did the sacrilegious act of pointing at a defender as he was racing to the endzone.

With children watching! Who knows what devious minds have been put into youth around the world that just wanted to tune in for a friendly, exceedingly violent game of football.

That mistake cost the Chiefs some yards, but the touchdown got to stay on the board. Hopefully, no one’s mind was corrupted from Edwards-Helaire pointing at someone.

Kids are watching, Clyde.

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NFL’s taunting rule isn’t working as it was advertised, says Saints coach Sean Payton

NFL’s emphasis on the taunting rule isn’t working as it was advertised, says ex-competition committee member Sean Payton

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There probably aren’t many coaches less pleased with the state of NFL officiating right now than Sean Payton. Beyond the Super Bowl berth a botched pass interference call helped take from his team a few years ago, league referees’ public rebellion to his proposed rule change intended to clean up their mistakes, and the game-changing interception his defense lost to a bogus roughing the passer foul last Sunday, he’s got little positive things to say about the zebras taking up too much time on game broadcasts each week.

“Everyone watching and participating deserves better,” Payton said during a Thursday appearance on the Dan Patrick Show. He added that he still can’t understand why no referees and the members of their officiating crews are full-time NFL employees, a point he’s railed about for years. When they aren’t deciding how a billion-dollar industry is unfolding, they’re busy in the offseason working day jobs as high school teachers and managing their dentistry practices instead of brushing up on the rulebook and getting better at their craft.

In particular, Payton expressed frustration with how the NFL’s new emphasis on its taunting rule has played out. He recently stepped down from the league’s competition committee, declining to elaborate on his reasons at the time so that he wouldn’t draw a fine from the NFL head office. But he may have tipped his hand in this Dan Patrick Show interview.

“I think it’s being over-officiated. I sat in on the discussion, and I don’t think any of us who discussed it saw it going where it is now,” Payton said, reflecting on the presentations used to sell him and other competition committee members on approving the new point of emphasis against taunting. “If you and I watch a game and we, say, sit next to each other and turn to each other and say ‘taunting,’ (after a play) that’s a taunting foul. And we would see it and can say that’s too much, you can’t do that.”

But he pointed out there’s the problem — a breakdown in communication between various officiating crews across the league, where some flag-throwers are fouling players for picking fights while others see a player glance at the opposing sideline and call it a penalty. As with the roughing the passer foul, Payton reasoned, there’s no consistency in how the taunting rule is being applied. Making officials full-time employees and focusing their attention at doing their jobs well could help fix that.

This is something the NFL could correct, but it’s choosing not to. The league could very easily take a fraction of the billions in profits it rakes in every year and make everyone refereeing a game a full-time employee, then send them to months of film study and workshops in the offseason to get more consistency out of their very important decisions. They could listen to the suggestion from Payton and his peers across the league who have called for a “sky judge” to be implemented as another official who could double-check those calls and non-calls.

But the NFL is cheap, and also lazy, or at best complacent. It starts at the top with league commissioner Roger Goodell who has said before that he and NFL ownership value the human element their referees’ mistakes bring to the game, saying that “The game is not officiated by robots. It’s not going to be.”

Goodell has also said that, “Our officials work incredibly hard, and the reality is they do a great job. But they’re going to miss calls,” and that’s just something fans and coaches and players have to live with. There’s no will at the top of the organization to fix the problems with officiating; if anything, Goodell and the people signing his paycheck are willfully ignorant about the situation. So all fans can do is complain online, and all Payton and his frustrated peers can do is complain to the media.