Kansas City Chiefs: New NFL celebration rule targets Eric Berry

The NFL has updated their celebrations rules once again. One area that affects the Kansas City Chiefs involves Eric Berry’s bow and arrow celebration.

They don’t call it the “No Fun League” for nothing folks. The NFL, despite relaxing rules on celebrations this year, has still found a way to be completely ridiculous about the whole thing. Specifically, NFL refs have confirmed that a new rule that will prevent Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry from performing his bow and arrow celebration.

The rule isn’t entirely unexpected, after the league fined Josh Norman for the same gesture back in 2017. However, just because we knew it was coming doesn’t mean it isn’t stupid. Norman himself went off about the rule earlier today in an interview.

It seems strange to be having this conversation after the NFL specifically stated that it was going to be less stringent on celebrations this year. It has been a sticking point for many players over the past few seasons that they can’t have fun and express themselves.

Just A Tad Hypocritical

The specific rule, found in Section 3, Article 1, preventing the bow and arrow celebration states:

"d. Any violent gesture, or an act that is sexually suggestive or offensive.Note 3: Violations of (a), (b), (c), (d), and (g) will be penalized if they occur anywhere on the field or in the bench area."

Of course, Eric Berry is not the only player affected by this rule. As mentioned, Josh Norman has taken specific issue with this. So has New England Patriots receiver Brandin Cooks, who talked about this last year when Norman was fined.

Now, the funny thing with Brandin Cooks is that the New England Patriots will continue to fire muskets after a scoring play. Also, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will continue to fire a cannon when they score. Fortunately though, the NFL is putting a stop to imaginary bow and arrows. Way to stop that pandemic guys.

Meanwhile, the league continues to have a huge domestic violence problem. Not to mention the fact that the entire game of football is founded on acts of violence. So I’m not entirely sure what statement they are trying to make here. Sometimes you might want to try applying a common sense test to the rules you’re making.

Fortunately, none of this will really have an effect on the play of Eric Berry or the Kansas City Chiefs. The star safety will continue to be one of the best in the NFL, and the Chiefs are looking at a strong 2017 season. It’s just frustrating that the NFL works so hard at restricting the amount of fun we can all have.