The NFL fined Bengals running back Chase Brown $5,481 for unsportsmanlike conduct for his touchdown celebration on Monday night.
Brown celebrated his 19-yard touchdown reception by jumping into one of the Salvation Army kettles behind the end zone at AT&T Stadium.
Officials did not penalize Brown.
The NFL has been inconsistent over the years in its decision whether to fine celebrations in the kettles. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don’t.
None of the Cowboys players who celebrated a touchdown in one of the kettles on Thanksgiving Day in 2023 were fined. That celebration included several players eating turkey legs that were stashed in the kettles.
Running back Ezekiel Elliott was not fined for a leap into the kettle in 2016, but he was fined $13,369 for the same thing in 2018. Elliott and Prescott each were docked $13,261 for unsportsmanlike conduct in 2022 for a “Zeke-in-the-box” celebration.
Four of the team’s tight ends did a Whac-a-Mole celebration in the kettle a week earlier in 2022 and were not penalized but were fined.
In 2017, former Seahawks cornerback Justin Coleman was penalized for jumping into one of the red kettles after a pick-six but was not fined.
NFL celebration rules prohibit players from using props, but the league should look the other way considering the positive publicity the Salavation Army’s Red Kettle campaign receives for the celebrations.
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