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Benny LeMay was not drafted out of the University of North Carolina, Charlotte in 2020. Last season, the Cleveland Browns added the running back to their practice squad … for five days. It was then cut.
This summer, he found himself in the Indianapolis Colts training camp, then with the ball under his arm in the third quarter of a preseason game against Carolina.
LeMay was hit at the line of scrimmage, but continued to move his legs until he carried as many as six defenders into the field for an impressive 14-yard gain. It’s the kind of game that can get an anonymous invitation to camp on an NFL roster.
He then stood up, leaned briefly in the direction of a Panthers defenseman, and appeared to utter a primitive scream. He was excited. His teammates came to greet him.
And then he got a flag thrown at him. The penalty? Provocation … 15 meters.
Ugh.
The NFL has warned players, coaches and, yes, fans, this is coming. It’s on one of his “sports” kicks. Why? Because he says so.
“We have seen an increase in actions that are clearly not in the spirit and intent of this rule and are not representative of the respect due to opponents and others on the ground,” said the chairman of the committee. NFL competition, Rich McKay, this summer in announcing the focus on enforcement. “Game officials have been instructed to strictly enforce the taunt rules.”
That means 15 yards for the first offense and one expulsion from the game for a second incident. There could also be fines and / or other suspensions.
If the norm this season is to be what Benny LeMay did last weekend, then it will be a long year. It was nothing. It was a sanction in search of an offense.
Respect is good, but it’s also football. It’s a physical game. It’s an emotional game. It’s a tough game.
Great games sometimes inspire overreaction and by the time the regular season games start to change because poor umpires have to take the feelings of the other team into consideration, it is going to escalate.
Yeah, yeah sure, sportsmanship and class and role models and blah, blah, blah. Yes, Barry Sanders used to score and return the ball to the referee (most of the time). It’s great for Barry. He is always commended for it. It is the reward for acting this way. It doesn’t have to be the norm.
Of course, the old mantra is ‘act like you’ve been there before’.
Well, LeMay had never been there before.
Instead, he had delivered the kind of play that thrills fans and inspires his teammates, the kind of effort that is almost uniquely football. It was the product of a lifetime of work and almost two years of dreaming.
Do you blame him for being bloated? It was awesome. If Carolina’s Josh Bynes – who was pointedly “taunted” (after keeping LeMay’s jersey, mind you) – was also upset, he should have stopped LeMay in the first place. He didn’t look too offended. He wasn’t looking for a safe place.
It is pointless.
After all, last season’s most famous taunt incident happened in two delightful acts.
The first was in a Week 12 win by Kansas City over Tampa Bay. Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs wide receiver in the middle of a monster performance, caught a pass and threw a peace nod at Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr. as Hill ran towards and then returned to the end zone.
Revenge came late in the Bucs’ Super Bowl victory when Winfield snapped a pass intended for Hill, then returned the peace sign. He was hit with a flag (and later fined) but it was a momentous moment and a perfect piece of border justice.
“When we faced them earlier, Hill went after us,” Winfield said. “He did a backflip in front of my face and gave me the peace sign, so it was right that I return the peace sign to him at that point. It was unbelievable.
He must have. What goes around comes around. Who the hell was hurt by this? Tyreek Hill? Of all the people who need protection. It’s just the league claiming that stuff matters, appeasing, well, definitely someone who’s dying to be offended by what grown men are doing in the middle of a heated sporting event. Maybe they should just sit back and enjoy the show.
The Hill-Winfield deal is probably what led to the rule change and signaling of Benny LeMay and the possibility that this season could be a parade of referees trying to gauge the emotions and sadness among the players.
It might be easier to let them play.
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