Josh Norman feels targeted by ban of bow-and-arrow celebration

Last season, Josh Norman was fined for performing a bow-and-arrow celebration after making an interception. This season, that type of celebration is banned.

They don’t call the NFL the “No Fun League” for nothing. The league has long been opposed to any sort of celebration after any touchdown, sack, and interception. However, this offseason, the NFL has somewhat relaxed the penalties against celebrations this year, with a couple of caveats. The first is that after a touchdown is scored, the 40 second play clock for PATs will begin immediate (per CSN Mid-Atlantic’s Rich Tandler on Twitter). The second? Pantomimed weapons are banned from celebrations.

On the surface, this may seem like a smart idea. The NFL has struggled with a violence issue off the field, so avoiding weapons and violence is probably a good choice. At the same time, the way that they have gone about banning this celebration has irked Redskins cornerback Josh Norman.

Last season, Norman performed a bow-and-arrow celebration after making an interception in the team’s Week 4 win over the Cleveland Browns. He was penalized in the game for the gesture and also received a fine of $10K. Norman recently spoke of a sort of double standard, as he said that Brandin Cooks had been doing the bow-and-arrow celebration for multiple years prior to Norman doing it. Furthermore, Norman claimed that it was a double standard for other reasons, per ESPN’s John Keim.

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"“You can shoot a cannon in a stadium, or you can shoot a musket in a stadium as well,” Norman said, referring to celebrations in Tampa Bay and New England. “If one of them is bad and looked at as dangerous, how come not all of them are looked at in that way? … When someone shoots an imaginary bow and arrow up in the sky, that’s a penalty?”"

Norman does have a point. This does seem like the NFL is specifically targeting Josh Norman for a celebration that he did one time. One that other players have done without consequences. And the fact that they are classifying it under the guise of violence prevention is a bit odd, given the fact that the league took so long to step up their policy against off the field acts of violence.

Also, certain players definitely get preferential treatment for the celebrations that they are allowed to do. Tim Tebow was always allowed to “Tebow.” Cam Newton is allowed to do his Superman move. So why can’t Norman shoot a bow and arrow, like Cooks was allowed to do during his days with the Saints?

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It’s these kind of incidents that give the NFL their “No Fun League” moniker. Just let players celebrate the way that they want to. It’s fine to try and ban violent gestures or pantomimed weapons, but it’s important to at least have some consistency with the enforcement of the policy.

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