It's hard to find a take that every single NFL fan will agree on. There are a handful of opinions that 99 percent of fans will be able to see eye-to-eye on, some of which are (probably) in the following assortment of random takes:
— Christian McCaffrey should have been the No. 1 overall pick in every fantasy football draft
— The Eagles' blue and gold jerseys should probably never have existed
— Justin Fields should probably be the starting quarterback in Chicago going forward
— Bill Belichick and Vince Lombardi are the top-two coaches of all time, though the order is probably harder to agree on
...and so on. You might find one or two fans crazy enough to disagree with those takes, if not more, though there's largely a consensus. But in terms of a take that everyone can agree on without question, it's a lot harder to find... that is, until ESPN Field Yates came to the rescue and provided the inspiration for this very article.
There it is. Boom. The golden opinion that we can all conclusively agree on, with no exceptio— never mind. Turns out there are people who agree with the crackdown. But perhaps if you only look at Twitter, like Yates suggests, you'll find that everyone is on the same page.
So why not look back at some of the most excruciating instances of taunting that never would have caused us to blink an eye at the past? These aren't all of them, of course, but the ones that drew the most ire from the NFL community. And why would we do that, you ask? Because we should either get used to the way things run now, or we should savor these moments before the rule changes again and these taunting penalties are no longer enforced.
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Levi Wallace, Buffalo Bills
Wallace was called for taunting after he emphatically crossed his arms in front of Dolphins receiver DeVante Parker. After the game, Wallace posted a tweet to his Instagram story — that's some social media inception, right there — and made his thoughts on the matter pretty clear.
D.J. Reed, Seattle Seahawks
Though Reed may have been facing in the general direction of Tennessee Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown, it didn't look like he was making any mocking gesture directly toward Brown. Instead, it looked like a little fist pump to celebrate getting a big stop, a celebration that many in the stadium may not have even noticed, but the penalty was the same.
Jordan Akins, Houston Texans
"Spinning the ball in the opponent's bench" is the one action that no one in the NFL should dare to perform, and yet Akins went and crossed that line. How dare he.
I'm joking, if you couldn't pick that up, and I think it's pretty ridiculous that something we've seen dozens and dozens of times — the simple act of spinning a football on the ground — resulted in a 15-yard penalty and a negation of Akins' efforts. This one is bad.
Mike Edwards, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This one is a little bit confusing to me, if only for the fact that Lamar Jackson ran into the end zone with just a little bit more flare later in the slate of games without consequence.
So you can't backpedal into the end zone, but you can attempt a front flip? Maybe it's just me, but that doesn't make any sense.
Tashaun Gipson, Chicago Bears
Bears defensive back Tashaun Gipson
(Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
Though footage is not readily available of this call, Gipson clapped with excitement and in the face of the receiver after a big play and was whistled for it. When asked about the flag, he defended himself by explaining exactly what he did: clapping.
"They [the officials] didn't really explain much to me about that," Gipson said (via Kalyn Kahler). "I wasn't really saying much. I just clapped because it was a huge play on third down, pumping up my guys, and that is the type of energy that you are playing with these guys. I don't want to be out there if I can't be happy for my guys when they make big plays.
"That's what this game is about, man. It's just adrenaline. It was costly, man, and that's something I just can't do, put our team in that third down, it's hard to get off the field. I apologized to them and that's uncharacteristic of me, but you know, that rule is a fine line right now. You don't know if you can be happy... but anytime our guys make a play, I'm going to be the first one to congratulate them and be happy."
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