The New England Patriots are just one of the recent NFL teams being affected by the new taunting rules.
During the Patriots’ Week 16 matchup against the Buffalo Bills, David Andrews was flagged for taunting while defending his quarterback. Bills linebacker Matt Milano drew a penalty for a late hit on Mac Jones and Andrews immediately got in his face to protect his quarterback.
There was no taunting or bragging — just the typical offensive lineman making sure that no one touches his quarterback. The flag flies for the taunting penalty and the Patriots received no extra yardage.
Patriot legend Ty Law discussed these new rules and had a very simple take.
“I think it’s part of the game,” Law said Tuesday morning on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” “It was not a good call by any means. It’s an intense game. You’re trying to get up in that guy’s head any way you can within the rules. I think that was a silly call. I think they should take that out of the game. The competition committee, they really need to look at these things because they are just words. We’re grown-ass men out there. It’s just words. No matter what he said, as long as he didn’t talk about the man’s momma, it’s fair game. Let’s play.”
Mind-boggling the fact this was called taunting. Jones took a late shot that resulted in a roughing the passer, dragged down out of bounds & then this late shot. Andrews did the right thing, officials were way too involved & had no feel for this situation. pic.twitter.com/wGvsvakk8V
— Ryan Spagnoli (@Ryan_Spags) December 27, 2021
The Patriots fell to the Bills and look to recover in a Week 17 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
