The NFL could change taunting penalties to wipe out touchdowns scored after taunting happens before the goal line is crossed.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll believes that would cross the line.
“I think that’s a terrible thing to do,” Carroll told reporters on Wednesday, via comments distributed by the team. “I think it puts too much pressure on the officials to change a game like that. The actions that the league took in this case were warranted exactly, but I think that would be a terrible thing for an official. I think it’s terrible in college football to put it on a back judge to have to figure out whether they should take the touchdown away in a game.”
On Monday night, Seattle receiver Golden Tate drew a flag for an extended episode of taunting during an 80-yard touchdown catch-and-run.
“Throw the flag, do the normal thing, and then take care of business afterwards,” Carroll said. “Taking a look at that situation, just to say it again, that’s not the way we want to present who we are and we’re all about. It was a mistake that Golden Tate has totally taken accountability for and all of that. I just wish it wouldn’t have happened for a lot of reasons. The statement that he made, and that we make about it, I hope is clear. There is no place for that in football, we don’t need that at all, and that’s not part of this game at all.”
But the best way to take it out of the game is to take away the result of the play on which the taunting occurred. The current rules haven’t eliminated taunting; otherwise, Tate wouldn’t have taunted the Rams on Monday night.