The NFL wants players to have fun within the rules.
That’s why the league will be emphasizing sportsmanship and cracking down on violent and sexually suggestive gestures this season.
“Unsportsmanlike gestures like simulating or either shooting a gun or brandishing a gun, or inappropriate gestures like a throat slash, or unfortunate sexual gestures, those were up 133% so that is a point of emphasis,” NFL officiating rules analyst Walt Anderson said Thursday. “The officials have made it a point of emphasis to the clubs. It’s just one of those areas that the league wants to work actively on. There are plenty of ways for players to be able to celebrate, and they come up with some very unique and often entertaining ways so we want them to focus on those and not the inappropriate areas.”
In April, the NFL expanded prohibited acts to include banning the “nose wipe” gesture that league executive Troy Vincent said is affiliated with gangs.
The unsportsmanlike conduct rule now states: “any violent gesture, which shall include but not be limited to a throat slash, simulating firing or brandishing a gun, or using the ‘nose wipe’ gesture, or an act that is sexually suggestive or offensive.
“There’s no place in the game to be standing over your opponent,” Vincent said in a video that’s sent to teams. “There’s no place in the game to have violent gestures. That’s not the game of football. We just have to play by the rules, respect your opponent, respect your teammates and play the game in between the whistles.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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