Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams called his shot before his 70-yard touchdown last Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks. He was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct for his celebration, which including dunking the ball over the crossbar in honor Lions' Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson, who was inducted into the Pride of the Lions at halftime of the game. Once something Johnson famously did after scoring, dunking the ball over the crossbar has been a penalty for awhile and a fine was surely coming for Williams.
On Saturday, confirmation came. Williams was fined $14,069 for his touchdown celebration, rooted in the dunk over the crossbar. That constitutes use of a prop, since it involved the ball.
The NFL fined #Lions Jameson Williams $14,069 for unsportsmanlike conduct/use of prop — dunking over the crossbar after his long TD last week. pic.twitter.com/VS37BM4Cd7
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 5, 2024
The league has softened their attempt to legislate celebrations out by doling out penalties. But if it's not openly taunting an opponent with actions or profane words, punishing a player for being happy and celebrating always feels weird and aggressive. In terms of random celebrations after a takeaway, "get off my lawn guy" might say "if you didn't score, stay out of the end zone." But that's a different conversation.
Jameson Williams, Levi Onwuzurike get fined for Week 4 infractions
Along with Williams being fined, Lions defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike was fined $13,849 for roughing the passer in the game against the Seahawks. He landed with his all body weight on Geno Smith, in another way the league has tried to make it hard to play defense by penalizing that, and he was flagged for it.
We have another sign of how lame and random the NFL's fine system is, with no apparent rhyme or reason outside of being a repeat offender and thus being subject to a bigger fine then. Williams got a higher fine for his touchdown celebration than Onwuzurike did for his hit on Smith. And usually when you see a penalty for what Onwuzurike did, it looks a lot worse than this:
Couple of Lions fines from last week. Costs more to dunk a football over the crossbar than to Looney Toon's pancake a QB. pic.twitter.com/e8SiikdSAX
— Justin Rogers | Detroit Football Network (@Justin_Rogers) October 5, 2024
So Williams and Onwuzurike will lose a chunk of their Week 4 game check, as easily expected when each play happened during last Monday night's game.