Make way for the return of NFL touchdown hijinks

League lifts restrictions on celebrations in the end zone, shortens OT to 10 minutes

The No Fun League is no more. It’s the Some Fun League now.

Commissioner Roger Goodell on Tuesday announced the NFL’s decision to lighten up and allow a wider range of look-at-me scoring celebrations.

In a letter to fans titled, “Touchdown celebrations: snow angels, group demonstrations and more are back!” Goodell wrote that after he held conversations with more than 80 current and former players, “we are relaxing our rules on celebrations to allow players more room to have fun after they make big plays.

“We know that you love the spontaneous displays of emotion that come after a spectacular touchdown. And players have told us they want more freedom to be able to express themselves and celebrate their athletic achievements.”

Goodell cited three examples of actions now permitted:

Using the football as a prop after a TD Celebrating on the ground Group demonstrations At his conference Tuesday that concluded the NFL owners’ oneday spring meeting in Chicago, Goodell said he disagrees with concerns that loosening the rule would result in improper actions that don’t set a good example for youths.

“I think the players will do this in a way that will be responsible, show good sportsmanship and do it in a way that I think is entertaining but also respectful,” Goodell told reporters.

It’s time. It’s both a good move and a good look for the Commish and the league. It’s just too bad they didn’t go far enough.

Goodell also wrote in his letter to fans that in the name of “sportsmanship, clean competition and setting good examples for young athletes,” celebrations that are offensive, prolonged, delay the game, or are directed at an opponent still will constitute a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Clear as mud, then, right? How do you define offensive? Most things cool to a teenager are offensive to a retiree.

Here’s a prediction. By the end of September we’ll all be as confused by this rule as we are by the catch rule.

It’s just what the NFL didn’t need: another vague rule, open to interpretation, that begs controversy and sows embitterment.

NEW BYLAWS

In Chicago, NFL owners passed three bylaws. First, overtime periods will be reduced from 15 minutes to 10. That opens up the possibility, albeit unlikely, that a team receiving the overtime kickoff can use up all 10 minutes just to kick a winning field goal. So much for both sides getting a possession in OT.

The owners’ intention is to make the game safer; shorter overtime games mean fewer snaps, which mean fewer injuries.

Second, the 75-man cut-down has been eliminated. Previously, teams cut down their 90-man training-camp rosters in two steps: to 75 on the Tuesday before the final pre-season games on Thursdays, and to 53 on the Saturday after. Now, teams will just trim from 90 to 53 on the Saturday — rendering 1,184 players unemployed at once.

Third, owners voted to allow two players per team, instead of just one, to return from injured reserve to the active roster during the season.

A fourth bylaw change owners mulled, whether to allow assistant coaches under contract to one club to agree in principle during the playoffs to become head coach of another, has been tabled for further discussion, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

SUPER RELOCATION

After the Rams announced spring rains have forced a one-year construction delay on their glitzy new stadium in Los Angeles, NFL owners voted to similarly delay the venue’s first Super Bowl. Instead of playing host to Super Bowl LV after the 2020 season, Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s dome gets Super Bowl LVI in February 2022.

The venue now is slated to open for the 2020 season, not 2019 as previously planned. Tampa Bay will now host the 2020 championship game.

CORTEZ KENNEDY DIES

Hall of Fame defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy was found dead Tuesday in Orlando. USA Today quoted an Orlando police spokeswoman as saying there’s “nothing suspicious” about the 48-yearold’s death. Kennedy played all 11 of his NFL seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, from 1990 to 2000. He made eight Pro Bowls and was voted into the hall of fame in 2012.

MARSHALL OFFENCE

New York Jets defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson verbally walloped former teammate Brandon Marshall, the veteran receiver now with the New York Giants. On Tuesday Richardson told reporters the Jets lockerroom “is a whole lot easier to get along with now.” Why? “We’ve got 15 reasons why it’s better,” he said.

Marshall wore No. 15 last year.