NFL Fines Deshaun Watson For 'Violent' Pretend Gun Celebration But Not For Pushing Official

The NFL on Saturday fined Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson a total of $35,513 for two unnecessary roughness violations and an unsportsmanlike conduct violation in last Monday night's loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And, surely, Watson angrily grabbing a game official by his shirt and trying to toss him aside amid a heated moment was part of the fine schedule, correct?

Nope.

And, surely, Watson celebrating with teammate David Njoku after one of the Browns' successful moments in the game wasn't part of the fine schedule, correct?

Oh yes it was.

Because Watson's merry moment with the Cleveland tight end showed the two men firing off pretend guns.

Like little kids playing in America do every single day.

NFL Fine Of Deshaun Watson Is Dumb

The NFL fined Watson $13,659 for his three-second celebration because it deemed the act a "violent gesture."

Never mind that an NFL game is a three-hour violent gesture. That's beside the point.

The point is, the NFL, based in New York City and immersed in a woke world view, thinks guns are bad.

The NFL plays 16 games on any given weekend and protects its players, coaches, and the field with men and women who carry actual guns. Teams travel to games escorted and protected by people with actual guns. Some clubs have people at their facilities armed with actual guns.

Many NFL players, being American citizens, are free to exercise their second amendment to own guns. And, based on anecdotal evidence, a large percentage do.

But a pretend gun celebration is bad in the NFL's eyes.

This is part of the league office's woke mentality. And like most other woke standards and world views, there are huge holes in logic. So the standard can look, well, goofy.

Consider:

The NFL fined Deshaun Watson for the pretend gun celebration, but didn't fine him for pushing a game official.

So the league could not abide the perceived violence of a pretend gun gesture, but the actual violence of laying hands on a game official and forcefully pushing him aside was acceptable.

Pretend Guns Bad, Inconsistency Tolerated

Then there are the inconsistencies of how the league applies its definition of violent gestures.

Because every weekend, NFL players playing a kid's game, act like kids. They make hand gestures. They dance. And, yes, sometimes they use pretend weapons.

Jaire Alexander, of the Green Bay Packers, is one of the NFL's best cornerbacks. And when he collects an interception or locks down a receiver on a certain play he celebrates by sheathing a pretend sword at his hip.

Swords, by the way, were the weapon of choice for the entire world for centuries. Swords were used to conduct wars, executions, assassinations, you get the drift.

But pretend swords hurt no one. (Which is true of pretend guns although that's apparently beside the point). So Alexander's pretend sword celebration gets a pass on fines.

Pretend bow and arrows also don't kill anyone but the NFL cracked down on them around 2016ish.

Josh Norman was fined for launching a pretend arrow into flight at a time he played for the Washington Redskins. The cornerback celebrated a big play with the pretend launch and was fined.

But Redskins was acceptable with the league at the time.

And inconsistent? Tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Brandin Cooks were routinely using the bow and arrow celebration at the time without fines.

The league office's inconsistencies have not stopped.

NFL Gun Inconsistencies Everywhere

The NFL happily collects billions of dollars from its broadcast partners. NBC, for example, pays between $1.71 billion and $2 billion (depending on which report you believe) to broadcast Sunday Night Football.

You know the lure of Sunday Night Football for NBC?

Well, obviously having a huge audience and being the only game on Sunday night is a major lure. But what makes watching the games so compelling, even according to NBC, is having great quarterbacks play in its games.

NBC, you see, loves "gunslingers" to be a selling point of its product.

And that makes the NFL show on NBC no different that NBC shows such as Blacklist, Magnum P.I., Chicago P.D. and Law and Order -- all of which feature what?

Guns.

So the idea of guns is fine as long as it's making folks money.

NFL Gun Crackdown Doesn't Affect Chargers

This is where you should know the Los Angeles Chargers played the Tennesse Titans last Sunday.

And before the snap of one Chargers offensive play quarterback Justin Herbert, one of the league's top gunslingers, audibled at the line of scrimmage. He used a pretend gun motion as his audible gesture.

Did the NFL turn its attention to Herbert and fine him $13,659 for using the same pretend gun gesture that Deshaun Watson used and resulted in his fine?

No.

The league office may have missed the Herbert moment because the most ardent members of its fine police may not have been tuned in to a regional telecast. Or maybe it's fine, pardon the pun, to use a pretend gun to change the play at the line but not to celebrate with a pretend gun.

Or maybe it's just another example of the NFL league office being inconsistent. Even in its wokeness.

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