Getty Dallas Cowboys corner Trevon Diggs celebrates after making an interception.
The Dallas Cowboys have had a good couple of weeks starting with the team’s annual Thanksgiving game, but there have been issues outside of play.
Dallas has won three consecutive games in the past month, including a win over the New York Giants and Indianapolis Colts. While the wins have propelled Dallas to 9-3, the past couple of weeks has seen the NFL crackdown on the Cowboys.
Besides the celebrations of running back Ezekiel Elliott and others, the league apparently penalized Cowboys star corner Trevon Diggs for his dress code after the Colts game.
Diggs was not pleased, taking to Twitter to voice his frustrations after seeing Philadelphia Eagles corner Darius Slay complain that the “NFL is not playing with these fines I see lol.”
“I got fined 5k for having my shirt out.. got fined 15k for socks.. socks bro,” Diggs responded to Slay on December 10.
It’s clear that the corner thinks the NFL is going a bit overboard with fines, and that could have something to do with its decision to punish other Dallas players for their touchdown celebrations in the past two weeks.
Dallas Stars Fined After Kettle Celebrations
After adding an exclamation point during the 54-19 victory over the Indianapolis Colts this past week, Elliott ran towards the man-size Salvation Army kettle the Cowboys put out every year to play some “jack in the box.”
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott took the responsibility of raising the jack out of the box, and a classic touchdown celebration was born. Of course, the duo knew that they would be fined for their antics after seeing their teammates receive the same punishment just recently.
Zeke and Dak come up with their own kettle celebration
According to Sports Illustrated, Zeke said the fines that he and Prescott received ($13,621 each) were “worth the awareness we bring to the Salvation Army.”
During the Thanksgiving game, the Cowboys’ four tight ends all had their own version of a kettle celebration, going for “whack a mole.” Dalton Schultz was fined $13,261, while Jake Ferguson, Peyton Hendershot and Sean McKeon all received smaller fines.
Prescott apparently paid their fines, and then wanted to double down with his own celebration the following week.
Pay up, Dak Prescott: The NFL fined #Cowboys tight ends Dalton Schultz ($13,261), Jake Ferguson ($4,895), Peyton Hendershot ($3,944) and Sean McKeon ($4,994) for their Whack-A-Mole celebration in the Salvation Army bucket.
Prescott said teammates would cover any fines.
2 More Home Opportunities for Cowboys
If Elliott, Prescott and the rest of the Cowboys have any more celebrations up their sleeves, they should have multiple opportunities to break them out over the next few weeks before the Christmas holiday.
Dallas has a home game against 1-10-1 Houston Texans on December 11, so it feels likely the Cowboys will reach the endzone and give themselves a chance to earn more fines.
Then, after a road trip to Florida to face another struggling team in the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Cowboys will return to Arlington, Texas for an all-important division clash against the NFC East-leading 11-1 Eagles.
So, there are multiple opportunities for someone new to end up in the kettle, but most of the Cowboys would probably prefer to break their celebration out against Philly. Considering the game will be on Christmas Eve, there should be plenty of directions the Dallas roster can go.