‘Can of worms’: Union head calls for NFL to drop taunting rule. Seahawks have 20% of them
D.J. Reed did his job.
The Seahawks cornerback lunged after A.J. Brown and helped disrupt the arriving pass. That kept the Tennessee Titans wide receiver from a huge reception inside the 5-yard line during Seattle’s home opener last weekend.
Reed then roared and quickly flexed his arms, not at his opponent so much as an instant reaction of excitement. But, he was standing over Brown.
The back-judge official threw a flag well after the play at Reed, for taunting.
“D.J. Reed on the taunting penalty? C’mon, man!” Seahawks teammate Jamal Adams said after his team’s 33-30 loss in overtime.
“You’re taking the passion and the emotions out of the game of football.”
DK Metcalf wasn’t involved in a touchdown in Seattle’s opening game at Indianapolis. As teammate Gerald Everett was scoring the Seahawks’ second TD of the first half, Metcalf was woofing into the face of a Colts player about the score. They were well behind the play.
Officials penalized Metcalf for taunting.
Through two weeks of the season there have been 10 penalties called in the NFL for the league’s new emphasis. There were only 10 taunting penalties through the entire 2020 NFL regular season, per a compilation by nflpenalties.com.
Twenty percent of the NFL’s taunting fouls this season have been on the Seahawks. Seattle had zero all last season.
“I really respect what they’re trying to get done. They would like the game to not have that in it,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “It’s a hard transition.
“You saw what it took for us to get a penalty there. I think we’ve opened up a can of worms and have to find our way through it as we go.
“I don’t know how other teams are doing with it, but it hasn’t worked well for us so far.”
Article 1.c. in Section 3, Rule 12, player conduct of the NFL rule book defines taunting as unsportsmanlike conduct and a 15-yard penalty for any “baiting or taunting acts or words that may engender ill will between teams.”
Let’s set aside the fact the very act of playing football, slamming into opponents 80 times each game, does by nature “engender ill will between teams.”
The NFL sent its officiating crews to teams’ training camps last month, as the league does every summer. In their presentation to players and coaches, the officials explained the new emphasis on taunting.
A few years ago it was holding. Then it was blindside and crack-back blocks. Each season the league has such rules emphasis, they begin that season reinforcing that focus by showing so many flags it’s like the Fourth of July.
That’s what’s happening this month — particularly to the Seahawks. The Chicago Bears also have two taunting penalties this season.
So two teams have almost half the league’s taunting flags.
“It’s clear what the rule is. We just have to react the right way,” Carroll said. “It’s the reaction of the player in the moment that we have to train. You’ve got a lot of guys that have to deal with those explosive moments, and they have to turn their focus away from the opponent.
“It’s a good thought. It’s just hard to manage it.”
Drop the rule?
This offseason the NFL competition committee approved the new emphasis on taunting for 2021.
This week, NFL Players’ Association president J.C. Tretter, center for the Cleveland Browns, issued a statement that called on the league to drop the new taunting emphasis. He said “the majority of fans” and the “majority of players” despise the new taunting rulings.
Tretter added “the competition committee currently consists of 11 members — 10 members are selected by the commissioner and one member is an NFLPA representative. Players are at the table, where we make our opinions known and our recommendations heard, but we get a token vote.”
Tretter also said: “Blame the people who push for rules like this.”
Those people are the members of the competition committee chosen by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell: chairman Rich McKay, president of the Atlanta Falcons; Katie Blackburn, executive vice president of the Cincinnati Bengals; Chris Grier, general manager of the Miami Dolphins; Stephen Jones, CEO of the Dallas Cowboys; John Mara, owner of the New York Giants; Ozzie Newsome, general manager of the Baltimore Ravens; Frank Reich, coach of the Indianapolis Colts; Ron Rivera, coach of the Washington Football Team; Mike Tomlin, coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers; and Mike Vrabel coach of the Tennessee Titans.
“We would support the removal of this point of emphasis immediately,” Tretter said. “Fans enjoy the intensity and the raw emotion that our players show on the field; and the overwhelming majority of the time, players understand the line between that emotion and bad sportsmanship. ...
“This attempt at controlling ‘taunting’ is going to be a weekly issue that takes away from the spirit of the game.”
It’s on them
If and until the league changes its mind and drops the emphasis on taunting, which seems unlikely, the Seahawks need to change — beginning Sunday when Seattle (1-1) plays at the Minnesota Vikings (0-2).
This hasn’t been an issue for 24 of the league’s 32 teams. They’ve had zero taunting penalties so far.
In Seattle, it’s been a coaching point. Carroll has been teaching players how to be emotional in the 2021 NFL.
Yes, the Seahawks practice celebrating with teammates, or with the crowd, or anywhere but facing an opposing player.
Carroll is trying to get his players to learn had Reed turned and flexed to the crowd at Lumen Field instead of at Brown, there would have been no penalty.
“It’s directing the aggressive movement or gesture at another player,” Carroll said.
“We always talk about celebrating with your teammates, and we’ve been practicing and making a big deal about it, because it’s one of the main new things that they emphasized. As always, that’s what they call.
“I don’t think it’s bad for the game, I just think it’s hard for guys to do in the moment. They just have to learn, train and do a better job. I have to do a better job of putting us in situations, making sure we are monitoring it really carefully and get our guys trained.”
Carroll loves his players to play emotionally and push the boundaries of legal exuberance during games. It’s yet another edge Carroll seeks for his players on the rest of the league.
But the Seahawks are going over that edge.
“You have to be accustomed to being in that kind of rage that we play in and how to manage it,” Carroll said. “We’ve got to stay cognizant of the rules and the plan of how the referees call the things.
“Sometimes the guys might lose the interpretation a little bit, but I think the (Titans) game was called well. I don’t think that there were any calls, of the one’s that I’m referring to, that were in big question. Our guys just have to stay aware and make sure they’re mindful of the situations they’re in and make really good choices and decisions and protect us whenever they can.”
This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 3:18 PM.
