Chidobe Awuzie Weighs in on Vonn Bell's Crucial Taunting Penalty
CINCINNATI — Bengals safety Vonn Bell was called for taunting in Sunday's loss to the 49ers.
The penalty extended the drive after Cincinnati appeared to hold San Francisco to a field goal attempt before halftime.
The 49ers scored a touchdown on the next play to take a 17-6 lead.
Bengals cornerback Chidobe Awuzie didn't like the call on Bell and questioned the rule itself when he met with reporters on Monday.
"That's just a ridiculous call on my end. I just don't really think it was a taunting penalty. There's things in the game, it's just gamesmanship, it's not necessarily like flexing on somebody or standing over them or stepping on them," Awuzie said. "Vonn just picked up the ball, ran by the guy (Alex Mack), the guy acted like he was gonna tackle him and Vonn just kinda pointed at him. The guy just turned around, I don't think if you ask him (Mack), he'd say he felt disrespected."
The Bengals rallied from a 20-6 fourth quarter deficit to force overtime, but ultimately lost 26-23.
"It's just such a ticky-tack type of call," Awuzie continued. "It's kinda hard to judge what is taunting because later in the game you see the guy hit Joe Mixon and stand over him and flex on him and there was no taunting call. So what is taunting exactly? And it's effecting games and we see it across the league that it's effecting games so it needs to be more accountability for that call. I don't think it should be called as often as it is."
That new taunting rule was put in place this year and it's obviously been met with plenty of criticism. It's something that the NFL needs to revisit this offseason.
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