False Controversy Swirls Around Husain Abdullah Touchdown Celebration

Some sports writers and social media pundits will have you believe Husain Abdullah was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for doing a Muslim prayer posture in the end zone after scoring in Monday night’s win over the New England Patriots. Let’s stop that nonsense here, that’s not what Abdullah was penalized for.

Abdullah picked off a Tom Brady pass and ran it back for a touchdown in the fourth quarter in the Chiefs 41-14 throttling of the Patriots. He was penalized after the touchdown for ‘going to the ground’ during his touchdown celebration. Many took this to mean he was getting flagged for doing the prayer posture. That is not the case.

First, here’s the GIF of the celebration for context and the Vine of the interception because watching Tom Brady fail is fun.

The problem was what we don’t see in between these videos. Here’s the full highlight on NFL.com that they stubbornly refuse to allow us to embed. (Bonus: Justin Houston levels Tom Brady on the return.)

Abdullah immediately goes to the ground upon reaching the end zone which for some stupid reason is a no-no to the NFL. The fact he transitioned to a prayer pose doesn’t matter, what matters is he is on the ground. It is a stupid rule that makes the NFL look even more dumb because now people have the false assumption Abdullah was penalized for praying.

Here’s the wording of the rule (Section 3, Article 1, D):

"Individual players involved in prolonged or excessive celebrations. Players are prohibited from engaging in any celebrations while on the ground. A celebration shall be deemed excessive or prolonged if a players continues to celebrate after a warning from the official."

At some point the NFL just needs to understand that celebrating touchdowns is GOOD for the game and not at terrible cancer. Hopefully looking stupid on penalties like these will force the league to re-evaluate some of their rules.

UPDATE:

Abdullah posted this on his Instagram account this morning…

UPDATE 2:

The NFL has responded to the Abdullah penalty and says the flag should have never been thrown.

"“Husain Abdullah should not have been penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct following his fourth quarter touchdown,” Signora wrote in an email to PFT. “Rule 12, Section 3, Article 1 (d) states ‘players are prohibited from engaging in any celebrations or demonstrations while on the ground.’ However, the officiating mechanic in this situation is not to flag a player who goes to the ground as part of religious expression, and as a result, there should have been no penalty on the play.”"

The timing of this statement is curious, but at least the NFL is saying this shouldn’t be a penalty. The question now is why they are putting their officials in a position to determine what is and is not religious expression.