Four days before the nation will be feasting on birds, multiple NFL players were flipping them.
Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict fired off a double-barreled middle finger to the Cincinnati crowd on Sunday during a loss to the Bills. Then, Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin provided a one-handed, one-digit peace sign to his own sideline during a win over the Eagles.
The message was for offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who called a play that included Baldwin throwing a pass to quarterback Russell Wilson. It resulted in a touchdown, but the man sometimes known as “Angry Doug” wasn’t pleased.
“We’re in the f--king red zone, and you want me to throw the ball?” Baldwin said after the game, via Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com. “Throw me the ball.”
Despite the apparent hostility, Baldwin was more amused than anything.
“It’s more funny than it is anything,” Baldwin said. "[Bevell] knows that when we get in the red zone, I want the ball thrown to me. I want to score touchdowns. And so, it’s like in that situation, him flipping the bird to me because now he’s got me throwing the ball to somebody else.”
Bevell wasn’t offended by the message that the late comedian Lenny Bruce believed was only an insult if preceded by the letters “un.”
“He just looked at me and laughed,” Baldwin said. “Nothing could be said. It worked out perfectly, right?”
It worked out perfectly on the scoreboard. It won’t work out perfectly in Baldwin’s pocketbook. Five years ago, former Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk was fined $10,000 for directing the same gesture to his own sideline. Hawk was disciplined even though he claimed it was a joke.