In the first week of October, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Andrei Iosivas successfully appealed against a $5,000 fine for pretending to fire a bow and arrow in a touchdown celebration, having scored against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead in Week 2. The spur-of-the-moment gesture [pictured] was deemed to be ‘violent’ by league officials, even though the pantomime move was aimed at the sky, not at anyone. Having won the appeal, the powers that be are now expected to tweak their rules on such celebrations, which is a big win for those of us who like a bit of theatre after a score.
After all, touchdown celebrations have become one of the most entertaining and expressive parts of American football. These displays of joy, retribution, defiance and even humour have evolved over the years from modest celebrations to complex, coordinated team dances and elaborate individual routines. Scoring is now just one part of the equation in this new battleground of showmanship.
What are the rules?
The league’s guidelines are designed to allow players to express themselves while maintaining a level of professionalism and sportsmanship. Over the years, its stance on celebrations has evolved so before we go any further, let’s look at what’s currently allowed and what isn’t.
Allowed
- Group celebrations, such as choreographed dance routines or acting out skits, are permitted
- Players can use the football as a prop in creative and entertaining ways
- Players can engage in poses or gestures
- Players can now go to the ground during their celebration to make ‘snow angels’, crawl or lie down
- Celebrations must not significantly delay the game
Not allowed
- Taunting, mocking or disrespecting opponents or officials can lead to a penalty
- Players cannot use any other object (other than a football) as a prop
- Celebrations that are sexually suggestive, overly aggressive or vulgar are strictly prohibited. This includes gestures like mimicking firearms or weapons (this is where Iosivas fell fowl of the rules)
- Excessively long celebrations will be flagged
- While players can interact with fans, players cannot enter the stands or excessively interact with spectators in a way that may compromise public safety
- Celebrations that involve violent or reckless behaviour, such as slamming the football into the stands or acting aggressively, are not allowed
Penalties for violations
Violations of celebration rules typically result in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and as we’ve seen, players can also be fined by the league after the game.
The early days: Muted and modest
In the early years of the NFL, touchdown celebrations were largely subdued. Players would typically hand the ball back to the referee or briefly raise their arms in victory. The conservative tone of the league, combined with a focus on professionalism, meant that anything beyond a handshake or a pat on the back was usually viewed as vulgar and excessive.
However, that changed when New York Giants receiver Homer Jones became the first player to ‘spike’ the ball, when he scored a touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles in October 1965. His move was revolutionary at the time, an unapologetic act of exuberance that would lay the foundation for everything we’ve seen since. The spike eventually became the go-to move for many players across the league while some, like Patriots and Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski, turned his forceful ‘power spike’ [pictured] into a signature celebration.
However, rather than taking pride in kickstarting this new aspect of the game, Homer Jones didn’t like what his end zone spike turned into. He saw it spawning a whole raft of other celebrations and disapproved. “It caused so many obscene things and confusing things, I wish I hadn’t started it,” he told The New York Times in 2012. Maybe he was recalling the time Vikings legend Randy Moss pretended to lower his pants and moon the Green Bay fans at Lambeau Field?
Signature dance moves
As the NFL entered the 1970s and 1980s, touchdown celebrations became more creative, with several players inventing iconic dance moves that would become a part of their brand. One of the early pioneers was Billy ‘White Shoes’ Johnson, a wide receiver and return specialist for the Houston Oilers. Johnson’s signature dance, the ‘Funky Chicken’, delighted fans and set the benchmark for others to beat.
Another celebration king was Cincinnati Bengals fullback Ickey Woods, whose ‘Ickey Shuffle’ became an instant sensation during the 1988 season. During his end zone dance, Woods held the football with his right hand and shuffled to the right, then switched the ball to his left hand and shuffled to the left. After making three hops back to the right, he spiked the ball. Over the years, the dance was featured in TV commercials, made a brief appearance on the hit show How I Met Your Mother and was even the subject of a song by funk legend Bootsy Collins.
In the ‘90s, Hall of Fame wide receiver Deion Sanders brought some of his personal flair to touchdown celebrations with a shuffle of his own. Sanders would high-step into the end zone and finish with his ‘Prime Time Shuffle’, which epitomised his bravado and athleticism. According to The Huffington Post, Sanders drew inspiration from the music video for the MC Hammer song Good To Go.
While we’re taking dancing, New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz could cut some shapes too, commemorating nearly every touchdown he scored with a quick burst of salsa in the end zone [pictured]. Cruz, who is of Puerto Rican descent, danced to honour his grandmother, who apparently taught him the moves. Other examples have included Johnny Morton and Golden Tate both doing ‘The Worm’ in the end zone and the Bengals’ enigmatic Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson busting out a bit of Riverdance-inspired Irish dancing. Talking of which…
Chad Johnson: Pushing the boundaries
In the 2000s, touchdown celebrations reached new creative heights and few pushed the envelope – and their luck – more than Chad Johnson. Over the years, he pretended to propose to a cheerleader, played golf with an end zone pylon, took over a TV camera to film his teammates (Tyreek Hill has also done this) and donned a Hall of Fame jacket with ‘Future H.O.F. 20??’ written on the back.
Johnson’s flair for the dramatic made every touchdown celebration an event in itself and kept fans guessing – and commentators on their toes. His flashy moves and bold celebrations often challenged the NFL’s rules on excessive celebration and his repeated fines for breaking these rules led to wider conversations about whether the league was limiting players’ individuality.
The Griddy
In recent years, one of the most popular and instantly recognisable touchdown celebrations has been the Griddy, a dance originating in Louisiana that was brought into the NFL by the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson. After scoring a touchdown, Jefferson’s Griddy – marked by skipping forward while swinging his arms and tapping his heels – became a viral sensation. Fellow LSU alumnus and current Bengals star Ja’Marr Chase has also embraced the Griddy, and both players are now synonymous with the move.
However, not all players can pull it off. Chase’s current teammate, tight end Mike Gesicki, famously attempted the dance while with the Dolphins but failed, and his awkward ‘Goofy Griddy’ became an internet meme [pictured]. Nonetheless, the much-imitated Griddy continues to be a fan favourite across the league, whether executed perfectly or not.
Imitation: The sincerest form of flattery
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was dubbed ‘Superman’ (or ‘SuperCam’) by fans, on account of his superhero-like feats and his ability to leap into the end zone. In fact, he often celebrated a TD rush or pass by mimicking Clark Kent, pretending to rip open his shirt, arms wide open, to reveal that he was Superman [pictured].
Playing on his own name, whenever Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle scores a touchdown, he celebrates by waddling in a circle, just like a penguin. Maybe it’s not the most intimidating celebration but it’s fun nonetheless. And while we’re taking birds, the Atlanta Falcons’ ‘Dirty Bird’, made famous by running back Jamal Anderson in the late Nineties, became a symbol of the team’s swagger during their Super Bowl run. The dance, a wild flapping of his arms like wings, was instantly embraced by fans and ‘The Dirty Birds’ has now become part of the franchise’s identity.
Elsewhere, Odell Beckham Jr. has pretended to urinate like a dog while former Denver Broncos running back Terrell Davis would imitate a soldier, standing up straight and saluting his teammates and the crowd. The ‘Mile High Salute’, as it became known, was inspired in part by No Limit Soldiers by the rap group TRU.
The group celebration
The NFL’s stance on touchdown celebrations has fluctuated over the years, leading to periods of stricter enforcement of the rules. During the mid-2000s, the league imposed heavy fines for excessive celebrations, limiting group choreography and penalising players for using props, earning the ‘No Fun League’ moniker for stifling players’ creative freedom.
However, in 2017, the NFL relaxed its rules, allowing players more freedom to express themselves in the end zone, so long as the celebrations did not delay the game or involve taunting. This rule change ushered in a new era of coordinated, often humorous group celebrations.
Teams like the Vikings have led the charge in team-wide choreographed celebrations in recent years. They have executed a synchronized game of ‘duck, duck, goose’, played leapfrog [pictured] and recreated a family Thanksgiving dinner, while Dalvin Cook’s teammates recreated a limbo pole that he passed under.
The Seattle Seahawks also garnered a reputation for their team celebrations, often coming together for elaborate skits and well-rehearsed dances, and the Pittsburgh Steelers have also embraced their new-found freedoms, recreating scenes from popular movies, while JuJu Smith-Schuster once played hide and seek with Le’Veon Bell.
The Lambeau Leap
Taking the interpretation of group celebrations beyond the confines of teammates, another much-loved celebration is the Lambeau Leap, pioneered by Green Bay Packers safety LeRoy Butler in 1993. After returning a fumble for his first-ever touchdown against the Los Angeles Raiders, Butler leapt into the stands at Lambeau Field to celebrate with fans – and the tradition caught on. To this day, Packers players regularly celebrate touchdowns by leaping into the arms of fans in the front row behind the end zone.
Props to the most creative celebrations
Some players took end-zone celebrations to entirely new, unexpected places, using (unapproved) props that earned them a dollar or two in fines for sure.
In 2003, Joe Horn, the New Orleans Saints wide receiver, made headlines when he pulled a hidden cell phone from the goal post padding after scoring a touchdown and pretended to make a call [pictured]. Although fined for his audacity, Horn’s celebration became legendary and this iconic moment was later copied by the Saints’ Michael Thomas. Terrell Owens was also famous for his many and varied celebrations. He joined in with the cheerleaders, lay down to sleep, pretended to be a mime artist and once pulled a Sharpie out of his sock to sign the ball and hand it to a fan.
Taking advantage of the now-relaxed rules, in 2023, Joe Mixon whipped out a coin from his glove to do a coin toss as part of his celebration after scoring a TD against Baltimore. The move highlighted the high emotions within the Cincy camp after the NFL approved a resolution that called for a coin flip to decide the site of a potential Cincinnati–Baltimore playoff game should the Ravens win the Week 18 contest (it wasn’t needed).
Respect is due
As outlined at the start, touchdown celebrations are not allowed to be disrespectful or mock the opposition. Tyreek Hill was fined many times for his ‘peace sign’ celebration, which was deemed to be taunting, but no one tiptoed along the line between fun and provocative more than the aforementioned Terrell Owens.
For example, upon scoring in a heated game for the 49ers against the Cowboys, he sprinted to midfield to pose on the Dallas Cowboys’ star, head up to the sky and arms aloft. When Dallas scored, one of their own players redressed the balance with a respectful kneel on the team badge. That only upped the ante so when Owens repeated his celebration later in the game after another score, he was knocked to the ground by affronted Cowboys players and a scrum ensued. Never disrespect the star, people…
Part and parcel of today’s NFL
So there you have it: a whistlestop tour of the ongoing evolution of touchdown celebrations in the NFL. They have now transcended mere displays of elation and are now a core part of the game’s culture, allowing players to express themselves and forge a greater connection with fans.
What began as a simple spike to the ground in the 1960s has evolved into a world of choreographed routines, inside jokes and even social commentary. And I think that this ever-changing landscape serves to remind us all that, even in a sport with as many rules and regulations as football, there is always room for a bit of individualism, creativity and fun.