Husain Abdullah Penalty for Praying Was Wrong, NFL Says

Husain Abdullah, as you’re probably aware by now, was given an excessive celebration penalty for sliding into the endzone and bowing after his pick-six put Kansas City up 41-7 on New England Monday night. Putting aside the argument that nearly all touchdown celebrations should be permitted — and one could make the case for that — there are nuances in the rules to accommodate different religions.

“When you go to Mecca, you should be able to slide wherever you want,” said Andy Reid after the game, via the Kansas City Star. “We’ve got two priests in here. They’d probably vouch for me.”

Technically, the NFL rulebook penalizes the following offenses for taunting:

"Individual players involved in prolonged or excessive celebrations. Players are prohibited from engaging in any celebrations while on the ground. A celebration shall be deemed excessive or  prolonged if a player continues to celebrate after a warning from an official. Two-or-more players engage in prolonged, excessive, premeditated, or choreographed celebrations."

So, by the letter of the law, it would seem like Abdullah should have been penalized. But, as Bruce Arthur noted, in 2008, then-VP of Officiating Mike Perreira noted that praying would be an exception to the rule.

“If you [want to praise the Lord], I’m gonna allow that, because I don’t want to be struck by lightning,” Perreira said. Last season, the Fox analyst again said that going to your knee to pray after a touchdown was not illegal:

This morning, the NFL acknowledged that its officials got this one wrong:

That’s not exactly … an apology, but maybe that’s coming later?