Nov 17th 2008 8:35AM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Titans, AFC South
The only thing the Tennessee Titans are losing this season is money to the league office. Chris Johnson was slapped with a fine for slapping some bongo drums after a touchdown against the Chiefs last month, and now wide receiver Brandon Jones will likely be writing a check of his own.
After Jones scored a touchdown in the third quarter of the 24-14 win against the Jaguars, he came up with a celebration that’s sure to catch Roger Goodell’s eye. He dropped to his knees and put his hands behind his helmet in a mock arrest pose. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the play, which you can check out on video here, and will almost certainly be fined later this week.
Leaving aside the umpteenth complaint about the league punishing any sign of emotion, Jones’ activities were momentary and not particularly excessive, pretending to get arrested is what passes as celebration these days? It may have been a commentary about the league’s crackdown on post-touchdown activities, but it came off like Kramer protesting junk mail.
Jones probably isn’t the right guy to be leading the charge. It was his first touchdown of the season, and he’s hardly been persecuted by the league office. While I’m against penalizing players for celebrations, I do prefer when they actually celebrate. Grade school level symbolic gestures are still going to get fined and aren’t particularly fun to watch.
