For the second week in a row, an NFL player has been fined for a Marshawn Lynch-inspired touchdown celebration.
Last week, Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams was fined $19,697 for diving backward into the end zone while clutching his groin at the end of his 64-yard touchdown run during the Lions’ 52-6 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
This week, Seahawks cornerback Coby Bryant will get $6,594 from his NFL game check for a similar celebration after his 69-yard pick-6 during Seattle’s 16-6 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
The celebration was planned in advance, Bryant told the Seahawks’ social media team after the game.
“I talked to my brother and my dad before the game. I told them I was going to do it,” Bryant said. “They’re most likely going to fine me, so Marshawn, if you see this, show your son some love too.
Bryant, like Williams, was punished for “unsportsmanlike conduct (obscene gestures)” for the celebration that Lynch made famous during his “BeastQuake” touchdown run during the 2011 NFC wild-card game.
There was no flag on Bryant’s interception return, just as there were no penalties called on Williams and Lynch’s touchdowns.
The Seahawks joined in the fun by using Bryant’s silhouette to replace the football on the NFL logo and celebrating his NFC Defensive Player of the Week award with a post on “Hold my D…defense award for Player of the Week.”
Lions head coach Dan Campbell was made aware this week that the NFL had used the Williams dive as the thumbnail image on the video package for the Lions-Jaguars game.
“Depends on what that is,” Campbell said of what celebrations are allowed. “Or the league will let it happen, right? They will use what they need. The content.”
The money the NFL collects from fines will be donated to the Professional Athletes Foundation to support ‘Legends in need’ and the NFL Foundation to further support the health, safety and well-being of athletes at all levels, including youth football and the communities that serve support the game. “
