At the end of November, the NFL fined the New Orleans Saints $500,000 and took away a seventh-round draft pick because players didn’t wear masks during their postgame celebrations after beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38-3 in Week 9, league sources told ESPN on Sunday. On the heels of the Pittsburgh Steelers beating the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday to win the AFC North division, one must wonder if the organization now faces discipline from the NFL as well due to social media video that surfaced right after the game
Several Steelers players took part in a choregraphed TikTok dance in the team’s locker room without wearing masks and with it now being heavily circulated on social media, we’ll have to wait and see if the league comes down hard on the organization.
The Saints reportedly appealed the league’s decision to fine them and take away a draft pick because they believe other teams across the league also have celebrated victories without masks, but none were disciplined the way they were.
The Steelers, by the way, were fined $350,000 in early November for violating NFL COVID-19 protocols after members of the team’s coaching staff failed to wear face coverings at all times during a game against the Baltimore Ravens. Specifically, the Steelers were fined $250,000 and head coach Mike Tomlin was fined $100,000 for the violations during that game, according to a statement on the league’s website.
The NFL has already issued a few reminders to teams concerning mask requirements that are aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
If the Steelers aren’t ultimately fined for their AFC North clinching dance routine, which was obviously spurred on by wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster being heavily criticized the last several weeks for doing that same dance on the midfield logo of opposing teams during pregame warm-ups. Smith-Schuster vowed this past week to not dance on logos anymore but said nothing about not doing it elsewhere, such as in the team’s locker room.
Let’s face it, the Steelers post-game dance was merely a harmless celebration. Even so, the league is surely not going to be happy with them doing so maskless. We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out. I’m sure the saints are extremely interested in what happens to Steelers this next week or so as well.
