Dan Campbell is good with Lions' touchdown celebrations, with an obvious caveat

Dan Campbell is fine with his players celebrating touchdowns, as long as they don't cross the obvious line.
Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images
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The way the Detroit Lions are scoring touchdowns this season, there's plenty of opportunities for players to celebrate. In Week 12, Jahmyr Gibbs and Amon-Ra St. Brown reenacted Allen Iverson's famous step-over of Tyronn Lue in the 2001 NBA Finals. Gibbs foreshadowed it by wearing an Iverson Philadelphia 76ers' jersey into the game.

Gibbs drew a lame-looking taunting penalty on his second touchdown of last week's game against the Colts. Twice this season, including for his homage to Marshawn Lynch in Week 11, wide receiver Jameson Williams has been fined for touchdown celebrations. In Week 4 against the Seattle Seahawks, Williams dunked the ball over the goal post and he was also penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Dan Campbell is cool with touchdown celebrations as long as they don't cross obvious line

Overall head coach Dan Campbell is fine with touchdown celebrations, though he admitted on Monday "a spike was as far as I got" when he was a player.

"I don't really get caught up in it," Campbell said on Monday. "I tell our guys, 'Hey, as long as you don't cost us 15 (yards), I'm good with whatever they do.' They have fun with it. They are creative. They like to push the boundaries of whatever those are. I know our guys have fun with it, and I think that's important."

"They enjoy it, so it's all good," Campbell added. "But I haven't seen everything. I haven't had a chance to see everything, unless my wife sends it to me and then I get it. Look, I'm glad they have a good time with it."

A reporter pointed out how the league is letting more celebrations happen, but Campbell took the opportunity to point out a little bit of hypocrisy.

"Well, that depends on what that is, whether the league let’s it happen, right?” Campbell said. “They’ll use whatever they need to (for) the content.”

As an example of what Campbell said, Williams' obscene gesture celebration from Week 11 (which drew a $19,697 fine) is the thumbnail photo for the league's official YouTube highlight video from the game.

So Campbell has no plans to stifle his players' touchdown celebrations, as expected and now fully confirmed by him. Just don't draw cross the line and draw a penalty that costs the team subsequent yardage, which is also the expected message.

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