I agree with your proposal for tiered penalties.

Any after-play action which includes physical contact should be a 15 yard penalty.

Verbal incidents, including those where a player fronts up and flosses, should be limted to a 5 yard penalty, unless they include the words, "Yo momma!".

If you are going to call these, then there needs to be absolute consistency. Let’s start with that.

Listened to a recent podcast hosting Jalen Ramsey. He admitted to some fairly dark 'trash talk' as a younger player.

In the age of betting on everything, I really want less discretionary penalty powers given to the refs. The Xavier penalty continued a drive that had a very good chance of stalling out and ensured the Lions ended up with points. The fact that Xavier got headbutted with no call made the situation more annoying.

Double post.

You can trash talk in the NFL (within reason), happens multiple times in each game without a flag being thrown.
Maybe it's a slow news day in writing content, i don't know.

For being a "No fun League", the NFL is head and shoulders above any other sport, there isn't even a close second.
Why, because people absolutely love the NFL. If fans are not having fun, they can always rake leaves soon, or do some fall golfing (and there's nothing wrong whatsoever with fall golf!!) .

If a player gets flagged/suspended, the team and/or player can always appeal to the league if they think it's unjust.

I think the NFL knows what it's doing concerning running and expanding the league in popularity, entertainment, and profit, especially under Goodell. That is undisputable.
***********
Here's what i'm doing today, as a Packer fan and a NFL fan.

With the Packers already at 2-0, and looking dominant doing so.........
I'll be watching the Bear/Lions game asking..."what's what?" with a big ass smile on my face!!
Then i'll keep my eye on watching a rematch of the SB teams, then checking out the Vikings and JJ McCarthy to see how they show up in week 2.

All i know is, the Packers are undefeated and sitting atop of the league, and i'm lovin every minute of it.

No fun league?
I can't speak for the rest of you, but it's fun for me.

The whole thing is stupid unless it's blatantly obvious and flamboyant in demonstration.

You're giving the officials too much power in terms of subjective behavioral judgment as opposed to physical altercations or the typical technical foul penalties. It's unrealistic for the league to expect the players to suddenly turn into choir boys during the heat of battle.

I would agree that if the NFL is going to be stubborn about enforcing this, then a tiered approach is the better idea. And for those minor instances, the ball should be moved five yards after the play instead of the entire thing being wiped out. There are enough questionable calls during the games without adding more, let alone questionable ones that might decide an outcome.

The League says they have sent guidelines to all 32 teams specifying exactly what constitutes the "taunting" to be called. It's the team's responsibility to educate the players what they can and cannot do on the field.

It boils down to "good sportsmanship". You're still allowed to celebrate a good play, but not to stand over your opponent and gloat or threaten. I think this has always been in the rules, they're just enforcing it now.

I agree it's about time to enforce this because player's behavior always trickles down to kid's sports. I don't want to see a 9 year old looming over another kid on the ground in a Pop Warner game.

There may be inconsistencies in enforcing the rule in the beginning, but it will settle in and eventually eliminate some of the poor sportsmanship that has crept into the game.

I think it would be interesting to see what materials the league has sent out to the teams about what is and what isn't a penalty. It should be something the coaches can easily educate the players about.

I'm with you, Joe. I'd like to see better sportsmanship because, like it or not, pro athletes are role models. Bart Starr or Ndamukong Suh, which do we want our kids to see?

And it's the seeing that the rule is going after. Lord knows what's being said but when you make a show of it the flags come out. You can get away with saying some things to a ref but get in his face for all the stadium to see and you can expect a flag. It's always been this way.

Continuing my grumpy old guy rant, I'd like to see a lot less of players stepping over the guy they just tackled and a lot less lifting his legs after a tackle as we saw Thursday. A little 'league guidance' and this will stop-- the tacklers will just step away and dance around like they never made a tackle before. Ray goddamm Nitschke never pranced around (though I'm sure he had a few choice words to offer now and then).

It all started with Deion Sanders.

Look at college now.

Even High school.

I call it Pride the deadliest of all sins and you see what happens after the Good Lord Spanks you after that move.

Make a play, be happy. Be excited. But don’t over shadow the other player.

Be Humble …..

I'd go for a 15 yarder for the defense racing down to the endzone to 'pose' because they finally got a sack. OR knocked down a pass. Give a delay of game penalty. The military crawl is sort of ridiculous also.

We don't see nor hear 80% of what is going on on-field, though I think we'd be shocked at some of the below-belt trash talk.

This situation is typical of how the league handles its rules. First they allow penalties to go on unchecked and then they decide to crack down and throw flags on everything.

The inconsistency in officiating has become worse and worse with every season. Teams have no idea what to expect.

We’ll see how this plays out with the taunting calls. Common sense and consistency is what is needed. GPG!
Thanks, Since ‘61

I these times, perhaps taunting is not or should not be a welcomed form of entertainment. But if, for good reason we take the widely adored, and well behaved former Packer A.J. Dillon and observe his demeanor, we'd have to say he shows us all taunting and trash talk is a weak way of not holding yourself accountable and is not necessary. Let's grow up a little bit.

Read this before the games yesterday and I think the NFL should only go after the egregious fouls here because it is too hard to be nitpicky about it. There is taunting on almost every play. This will end up having too much grew area and will effect the game too much to try to prevent all taunting.