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The “No Fun League” is back and sterner than ever. The NFL has made it their prerogative this offseason to implement a rigorous crackdown on taunting throughout the league — much to the dismay of fans and players alike.
Yet, despite viewers recoiling at the sight of an undrafted running back being penalized for shedding a speck of emotion in a preseason game, and Pat McAfee continuously punching air over the subject, the renewed emphasis will be part of the game in 2021.
One of the driving forces in the suppression of taunting is New York Giants co-owner John Mara. A member of the NFL’s Competition Committee, Mara’s recent comments regarding the matter didn’t go over so well, ruffling feathers of some of the league’s most elite talents.
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Alvin Kamara & Tyrann Mathieu Respond to Mara
While speaking with members of the New York media, Mara shed light on the internal conversation with the Competition Committee that led to the crackdown, via the Giants’ official website:
That’s something we discuss every year in the Competition Committee. We get kind of sick and tired of the talking that does go on from time to time on the field. We tried to balance the sportsmanship with allowing the players to have fun and there’s always a fine line there, but none of us like to see that. It’s just a question of whether you can have rules that can be enforced and without taking the fun out of the game too, but nobody wants to see a player taunting another player. I know, I certainly don’t. I think the rest of the members of the Competition Committee feel the same way, too.
As one would expect, it didn’t take long for negative feedback to come pilling in. Thanks to a little nudge from Pro Football Talk, who tweeted a portion of Mara’s quote, players such as New Orleans Saints superstar Alvin Kamara and Kansas City Chiefs perennial All-Pro Tyrann Mathieu joined in on the conversation — spoiler they’re not fans.
UPDATE: As noted by Pro Football Talk, while the transcript of Mara’s comments published by the Giants’ official website quoted the Team President and CEO as saying “sick and tired of the talking,” a review of the audio appears to point towards Mara actually saying, “sick and tired of the taunting.”
Mara Talks Potential Changes
While Mara’s comments certainly didn’t make him any new friends, Big Blue’s on-field product of late hasn’t been any more welcoming. The team is coming off their fourth consecutive losing season and has sniffed the postseason just twice over the past decade.
When asked whether he’d entertain the idea of making “major changes” should the team continue their playoff drought through 2021, Mara had this to say:
I’ll look at that at the end of the season and see whether I think we’re continuing to make progress and moving in the right direction, but I’m not issuing a playoff mandate. I don’t think those ever do you any good. I don’t think I need to say or do anything to motivate the people in this building any more than they’re already motivated. They all want to win.
As for whether general manager Dave Gettleman, who has just 15 wins under his belt since taking over the gig three years ago, is on the hot seat, Mara noted he “wouldn’t say that’s an accurate statement.”
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