KEEP YER GIANT MOUTHS SHUT!
Mara says he’s had it with taunting in NFL, draws ire of trash talkers
Giants co-owner John Mara drew the ire of some high-profile NFL players on Tuesday by voicing his stance against taunting.
“Nobody wants to see a player taunting another player,” said Mara, one of nine members of the NFL’s competition committee. “I know I certainly don’t.”
Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu wrote: “So shut up and play? Got it,” in a since-deleted Tweet.
Alvin Kamara called the sentiment “[corny] as hell.”
“Honestly I wanna ‘taunt’ [just] to see how far I can take it before I get a flag,” Kamara tweeted.
Mara and the rest of the NFL’s competition committee have instructed officials to “strictly enforce the taunting rules” as a point of emphasis this season, in the words of Atlanta Falcons president and CEO Rich McKay.
Suspensions are in play depending on the severity of the actions, along with the existing threat of fines. Two taunting penalties in one game already resulted in an automatic ejection.
“That’s something we discuss every year in the competition committee,” Mara said. “We get kind of sick and tired of the talking that does go on from time to time on the field. We tried to balance the sportsmanship with allowing the players to have fun and there’s always a fine line there, but none of us like to see that.”
“It’s just a question of whether you can have rules that can be enforced without taking the fun out of the game, too,” Mara acknowledged. “But nobody wants to see a player taunting another player. I know I certainly don’t. I think the rest of the members of the competition committee feel the same way, too.”
It’s obvious there is an enormous disconnect, however, between what the players and public feel is acceptable and what league officials want to curb.
Indianapolis Colts running back Benny LeMay got flagged for taunting last weekend when he carried a huge pile of Carolina Panthers defenders about 10 yards.
LeMay simply flexed and talked briefly when he emerged from the pile but still got penalized for taunting. Social media erupted when the video hit the internet.
In the Super Bowl, Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr. was fined for flashing Tyreek Hill’s famous peace sign back at the Chiefs receiver after shutting him and the Kansas City offense down.
It was arguably the most entertaining moment of the entire Super Bowl, which was televised on the most vanilla broadcast in recent memory on CBS.
But McKay said in a video to teams that the NFL Players Association, coaches and competition committee all were in agreement in taking action to reinforce “respect among everyone on the field.”
Most likely, officials will strictly enforce the taunting rules early this season and then relax their emphasis as the players and fans continue to push back.
But it’s exhausting hearing the competition committee pay so much attention to this, and not to how differently the Super Bowl was officiated in favor of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — such as a key Mathieu interception of Tom Brady being called back due to a phantom Charvarius Ward hold on Mike Evans away from the play.
Regardless, if the NFL really is going to crack down on taunting, the league is going to get more of the reaction it saw on social media on Tuesday. And the union will continue to hear it from players, too.
According to the NFL’s operations website, the competition committee is comprised of two owners, two team presidents, two former GMs, and three head coaches:
Mara, McKay, Stephen Jones (Dallas Cowboys), Mark Murphy (Green
Bay Packers), Ozzie Newsome (Baltimore Ravens), Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers), John Elway (Denver Broncos), Sean Payton (New Orleans Saints) and Ron Rivera (Washington).