Jeff Fisher, a long-time member of the NFL Competition Committee, addressed the media today, and commented on the rise in taunting calls in the NFL last year.
“We had some very lengthy discussions with respect to sportsmanship,” Fisher said. “After looking at a lot of tape and after talking and consulting with different entities – the coaches subcommittee, the Players Association and others – we agreed that we have an issue on the field.
“We agreed that we are going to get it under control as soon as we possibly can. We will be working with Dean [Blandino] to put tapes together. Our taunting numbers increased from nine in 2012 to 34 last year and we are going to effect change immediately and that change will be effected as early as the OTAs when players come back.
“We’ve got to change our conduct on the field. We’ve got to bring the element of respect in its highest level back to our game. We are going to clean the game up on the field between the players. The in-your-face taunting, those types of things. The language, it’s all in the book, it’s all under unsportsmanlike conduct. There is no change in the rule, we are going to enforce the current rule.
“The penalty is there – it’s black and white. The penalties increased, but we also feel like we missed some penalties. The incidents on the field have increased as well. We may not have flagged them all but we are going to raise the standard and Dean’s guys are definitely going to raise the standard.”
