When Kansas City Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah returned an interception 39 yards for a touchdown, he dropped to his knees in prayer as part of a celebration. He was then given a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Now, the NFL is saying the referees shouldn’t have thrown a flag on the play.
“Rule 12, Section 3, Article 1 (d) states ‘players are prohibited from engaging in any celebrations or demonstrations while on the ground.’ However, the officiating mechanic in this situation is not to flag a player who goes to the ground as part of religious expression, and as a result, there should have been no penalty on the play,” a league spokesman said in a statement.
Abdullah said he thought the call may have been made against his slide into the endzone rather than the prayer itself. Others have pointed to an apparent double standard in the treatment of Abdullah, a Muslim who took off the entire 2012 season to take the Hajj to Mecca, versus that of Christian players who pray as part of their celebrations on the field without penalty.