The dumbest thing any NFL player did in Week 1 of the regular season? That was Stefon Diggs, who was guilty of a clownish touchdown celebration that cost his team – perhaps dearly.
Diggs, 32, is one of the league’s most-gifted route runners. He’s elite in that respect and he showed it on a 10-yard touchdown in Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Diggs made Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean think he was going one way, and then went the other way, leaving him wide open for the score.
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But then Diggs showed everyone perhaps the reason he’s playing for his fourth team in four years when he completely lost his mind after the score. Diggs, you see, celebrated his first touchdown with his new team by jumping on the goal post.
It’s an old Antonio Brown celebration from more than a decade ago.
The NFL calls it using the goal post as a prop which is against the rules. So Diggs was immediately flagged for the foolish move.
“As soon as I wrapped my arms around it I was like this: ‘Oh I forgot,'” Diggs told reporters at his locker stall after the game. “Back in the day, you know, I’ve been playing a long time, you used to could do that.
“So, update on the rules and sometimes when you’ve been in the game a long time, uh, I got to be better.”
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To be clear, there has never been a time when Diggs, who entered the league in 2015, could do this and not be penalized. Using the goal post as a prop became illegal in 2006.
Anyway, no biggie right?
Wrong.
Diggs might have helped cost his team the game because of his celebration. He certainly cost his team the opportunity to tie the game.
The Commanders trailed 17-9 with 10 minutes left in the game before Diggs scored. So his TD made it 17-15.
Washington coach Dan Quinn would have been right to follow the Diggs score by trying to tie the game with a two-point attempt. Indeed, that was his intention.
“Yeah, we were going to go for two,” the coach said afterward.
Apart from the 15-yard penalty Diggs incurred for his tomfoolery prevented the Commanders from trying that game-tying 2-point attempt from the 2-yard line. The Commanders had to kick the extra point instead to make the game, 17-16.
Did we mention the Commanders lost the game, 24-22?
The inability to go for 2 points after the Diggs score to tie the game forced the Commanders to try a 2-pointer later. They failed on that conversion which would have been moot if they could have converted the 2-point try after the Diggs score.
An extra point later would have tied the game at 24.
No worries. A team is a brotherhood and Diggs was excused for his antics, right?
Nope.
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“You’ve just got to be smarter,” quarterback Jayden Daniels lamented. “We got to know situations and situational football … We’ve just got to be smart. There is a time and place for everything and celebrations. I’m pretty sure at that point we could have gone for two.”
Daniels actually blamed himself for not reminding the other players in the huddle to avoid doing dumb stuff if they scored. But who could have predicted someone humping the goal post?
“I did have a conversation with [Diggs] about that,” Quinn said.
Yes, but that talk came after the fact.
“He knows better in that space and he knows that,” Quinn added. “So we did talk about that in that spot. I love his fight. I love what he stands for, but as the competitor, he knows better in that spot.”
Apparently Diggs didn’t know. And it cost his team.
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