Yesterday, I bitched a little bit about the celebration penalty against Miles Austin for leap-frogging Roy Williams in the end zone after Williams scored. According to Shutdown Corner, the penalty was, in fact, on Sam Hurd for joining Williams with the “Hook ‘em, Horns” salute. Unfortunately for Hurd, he did the sign wrong. The thumb is supposed to stay in.
While Keion Bell is probably proud of Miles Austin’s leaping ability, I’d say he, too, is confused by a league that penalizes their players 15 yards for celebrating in such a manner. I’m sorry, did Austin and Williams start a circle with Williams shooting everybody down? Did they pass the ball back and forth, acting like it was hot potato, before spiking it? Or did they use any props hidden in socks or the padding around the uprights?
Since the answer to those questions is a resounding no, is penalizing Austin in such a situation a good and wise decision by the NFL? Instead of cracking down on harmless stuff like this, how about dealing with players who launch while leading with their helmets?
How about ejections and suspensions instead of fines? Or, how about focusing that all-seeing eye on things that take away from NFL enjoyment instead of trying to kill the spirit of these teams? It’s not like Austin taunted the other team (or Williams for that matter). Are players acting exuberant after a big play really that harmful the overall product?
See what I’m saying about Miles Austin? He such a freakazoid, he has mouths for eyes. If that’s not freaky enough, take a look at his output in the last two games for the Cowboys: 16 catches, 421 yards, 4 touchdowns. Again, in two games. That, friends, comprises a season for some receivers, if not a career. With Austin, however, you get the feeling that he’s just getting started on what could be a very lucrative, explosive stay in the NFL — especially if defensive secondaries don’t start doing a better job of at least trying to cover him. While his game against the Atlanta Falcons wasn’t quite as eye-popping as his game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Austin was still the best receiver on the field.
No offense to Roddy White, either.
Here’s one of Austin’s two touchdown catches against the Falcons:
Here’s a checklist of the things Dallas Cowboys receiver Miles Austin accomplished yesterday against the Kansas City Chiefs:
* Caught 10 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns
* Set Cowboys records for receiving yards, beating names like Michael Irvin, Terrell Owens, and Bob Hayes
* Caught the game-winning touchdown on a 60-yard catch and run
* Increased his YPC on touchdown catches to 40.8 yards a reception
* Perhaps gave Tony Romo a legitimate lead receiver, something Dallas has been looking for since Owens was released
Considering just how storied the Cowboys franchise is, when a relative unknown starts setting and breaking records, it’s newsworthy. How impressive was Austin’s game, considering it came from a receiver trying to find his way in this league? The folks at the Kansas City Starwere particularly dumbfounded:
Austin may have talent, but it was still troubling to the Chiefs that they allowed a career day to a player still trying to establish himself. Austin joined the Cowboys as an undrafted rookie in 2006 when Todd Haley was their receivers coach.
Austin had just 23 career catches heading into Sunday’s game. He had only five this season in the Cowboys’ first four games. He was such a nonfactor in the Dallas passing game that Romo didn’t even try to find Austin on the deciding plays in the end zone of last week’s loss to the Denver Broncos.
Sounds a lot like sour grapes to me… Or at least a truckload of frustration for their Chiefs, who essentially got beat by a number 3 receiver.
