Romeo Crennel Says the Chiefs Won’t Be Dancing Anymore
Romeo Crennel: head coach, ex-coordinator, and party pooper. Kansas City’s head man says the Chiefs won’t be dancing anymore in the endzone—not after a group celebration cost his team a 15 yards via an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Monday Night Football against the Steeelers. Adam Teicher of the Kansas City Star has more:
Playing on the “Monday Night Football” stage brought out the best and worst of the Chiefs. They played perhaps their best game of the season Monday night in Pittsburgh, taking a lead for the first time before losing 16-13 in overtime to the Steelers. They also felt compelled to dance and celebrate on national television, something that cost them one 15-yard penalty at a crucial point in the game and could have cost them more. Coach Romeo Crennel said he wasn’t sure whether playing on national TV caused the Chiefs to turn into entertainers as well as football players. “I have no idea,” Crennel said. “It was a surprise to me to see some of those celebrations, per se. The rules are explicit about no celebrating, particularly group celebrations. You cannot have those. Our guys, they know the rules and they should not have done it. I will talk to my players about that, and I don’t expect it to happen again.” The 1-8 Chiefs have played two straight nationally televised, prime-time games but will play in relative anonymity for the rest of the season. They play against Cincinnati at noon on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium in the first of three straight home games. Several players, including captains Derrick Johnson and Eric Berry, were guilty of a group celebration against NFL rules in the third quarter. They were celebrating an apparent fumble on a third down by Pittsburgh quarterback Byron Leftwich that Justin Houston returned for a touchdown that would have put the Chiefs ahead 17-10. The play was ruled an incomplete pass instead after a video review, but the Chiefs penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct stood and the Steelers kept the ball with a fresh set of downs and the extra 15 yards.
