It turns out Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett doesn’t mind players celebrating.
Garrett, who has notables who love to celebrate such as Ezekiel Elliott and Dez Bryant on his roster, apparently stepped up and helped the league change its mind on the celebration rules this offseason.
Here’s ESPN’s Todd Archer capturing Garrett’s detailed thoughts on the matter:
“I think as much as anything else where we came at it as a coaching group was just to have a common sense approach to it,” Garrett said. “It just seemed like sometimes we had some rules in place that we didn’t really understand why those rules existed. There seemed to be some inconsistency to it. So we had a long discussion as a group and just tried to come up with some common sense parameters for how to instill some of the fun back into the game after somebody scores a touchdown without distracting from the team concept. We made some recommendations as a coaching group, and I think they used some of them.”
Joining Garrett was Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, per Archer’s colleague, Jamison Hensley:
“Let’s have some fun. Let’s enjoy it,” Harbaugh said. “I really like it when our guys celebrate. I like it when our guys score touchdowns. I want to score a lot of touchdowns. I want to see a lot of celebrations. I want our guys to have fun, and I want our fans to have fun.”
It’s good to see a bit of modern thinking coming from the league on this matter, even if it comes from an unexpected source like Garrett.
Either way, the league was destined to loosen up the rules eventually because fan backlash over the fun being taken out of the game was palpable. A league leader like Garrett championing the cause likely made the move easier, if not faster.
The NFL will still find a balance with celebrations, but Garrett’s efforts mean a better product on the field starting next year.
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