Cowboys Garrett Helped Push New NFL TD Celebration Rules
FRISCO (105.3 THE FAN) - The NFL says it that it will "relax" its ridiculously restrictive TD celebration rules, meaning "using a football as a prop,'' "allowing a group celebration'' and "snow angels'' are now OK.
Silly? Yes, but not on the part of the players. Silly for a collection of wealthy old white men in suits failing to see the fun in it all.
And who motivated the league to soften its stance? Among others, Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett.
"It was a good discussion that we had at the owners' meetings, and I think as much as anything else where we came at it as a coaching group was just to have a common sense approach to it," Garrett says. "It just seemed like sometimes we had some rules in place that we didn't really understand why those rules existed. There seemed to be some inconsistency to it. So we had a long discussion as a group and just tried to come up with some common-sense parameters for how to instill some of the fun back into the game after somebody scores a touchdown without distracting from the team concept.''
That latter part — the "team concept'' was the original goal in creating the rules that penalized creativity. Now? Outside of end-zone pantomiming of gunplay or sex acts, players will get to enjoy the fruits of their TD labor.
"It's a tricky deal,'' Garrett said. "We don't want to take it away from the team. I think everybody understands that. But at the same time, football is fun. It's fun to be part of the National Football League. For the players to have some fun and show some personality, I think that's a positive thing for the league."
So positive that Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott will be allowed to jump into The Salvation Army kettle without punishment?
"I don't know the specifics of that,'' Garrett laughed. "It's probably in the small print somewhere."
