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Report: NFL Will 'Relax' On Excessive Celebration Penalties

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- ESPN reports that the NFL is working to clarify and ultimately "soften" the confusing anti-celebration rules.

According to ESPN, competition committee members took the discussion to the NFL scouting combine.

No final decisions were made, but "momentum has grown toward a framework that would allow harmless and spontaneous celebrations. The league will continue to outlaw what it considers excessive, prolonged or vulgar demonstrations. But there is now a league-wide expectation that lighter guidelines will be adopted at some point this offseason, most likely during the annual owners meeting in Phoenix, Ariz., later this month," reported ESPN.

What's the main difference between "excessive" celebration and spontaneous fun? That's been where the lines consistently blur because it is left to the discretion of the officials on the field.

In 2015, the league penalized players nine times for "prolonged or excessive celebrations or demonstrations." Last season, ESPN reported after Week 4 that taunting calls were up 220 percent, and unsportsmanlike penalties were up 56 percent.

Commissioner Roger Goodell admitted that the policing of celebrations is something to be monitored.

Goodell said it's about "balancing sportsmanship, avoiding taunting and trying to allow players the ability to express themselves in an exuberant way to celebrate. We think that's great. We want to see more of that. But we want to see them do it respectfully to their teammates and their opponents."

What do you think about the issue of celebration on the field?

 

 

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