4. Celebrations Cost the Team a Point
Look, I love touchdown celebrations. I’m not an “act like you’ve been there before” guy. If I’m a professional athlete in the prime of my physical skill, and I just scored a touchdown playing the game I love, I’d probably ham it up a bit, especially if I’m a rookie, like JuJu Smith-Schuster, who celebrated his touchdown by involving his teammates in a dance where he pantomimed the rolling of dice.
I love seeing these things, and I greatly welcome the NFL’s decision to relax the rules on what players can do after scoring. I smile every time I think of William Gay getting on his knees and crawling to the sideline. But, you can’t take all day with it. Smith-Schuster’s celebration today took a bit too long, and the Steelers were called for a delay of game penalty, forcing an extra point out of what could have been two points.
Now, it’s true that it didn’t end up mattering in the end, because they won by 17. Maybe the Steelers would have ended up missing the conversion, making the penalty a blessing in disguise. Maybe. But against Green Bay and New England, the game is going to be closer, and the consequences for messing around could bite you harder.