Just as we all expected, the NFL’s new emphasis on taunting has been a disaster over the first two weeks of the season. For background: the league announced in August that it was instructing officials to “strictly enforce the taunting rules” in the interest of making a “strong statement regarding respect among everyone on the field.”
It sounded like a bad idea when it was announced, and the early results have been as awful as anyone could have expected. Basically any interaction between members of opposing teams is enough to earn a 15-yard penalty, as this video shows:
Fans hate it.