Sunday in London saw a lot of early penalties against the Denver Broncos, but a lot of the issues were routine. Here we look at some of the more esoteric situations from the win.
Taunting
In the first quarter, Justin Simmons was flagged for taunting, the second taunting penalty on the Denver defense this year. We do not know what was said, and the penalty was clearly for something said. It is pretty surprising for words alone, early in a game, to receive that flag in the NFL. There is a bit of a joke among officials that in high school football, “I am better than you” will get a taunting, while in college it requires racial slurs, threats or multiple curse words to see an unsportsmanlike taunting, and in the pros there is almost nothing a player can say that will earn an unsportsmanlike foul.