NFL Explains Dumb Taunting Penalty from Monday Night
If you missed it the other night, the Chicago Bears got burned when Cassius Marsh was flagged for a taunting penalty after sacking Ben Roethlisberger.
Taunting is a point of emphasis rule change this year, like “lowering of the helmet” was recently, and here’s an explanation from the league as to why the flag was thrown:
The NFL released this video explaining why they believe the Cassius Marsh taunting penalty was the correct call on Monday night.pic.twitter.com/G8g0JNOVkw
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 10, 2021
By letter of the law, yes, it’s a penalty. You aren’t supposed to stare down the other team’s bench or flex on ’em or anything like that.
But in terms of practicality here, Marsh is 15 yards away. He’s near the hashmark. He’s not standing over somebody. He’s not pulling an Allen Iverson and Tyronn Lue. There’s nothing that’s “in your face” about what he did.
That’s why it’s hard to accept this flag in particular. It would be one thing if he sacked Big Ben near the sideline, then got up in Mike Tomlin’s face and said “what’s up now?” You wanna cut down on unnecessary stuff like that, but in this case what he did was totally benign.