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Saints WR Brandin Cooks on bow-and-arrow celebration: 'They're not going to stop me'
Just as it’s done in recent years, the NFL is cracking down on players celebrating exciting plays. Antonio Brown can’t twerk. Von Miller can’t dance. And Josh Norman can’t shoot his bow and arrow.
New Orleans Saints wide receiver Brandin Cooks won’t let the skyrocketing number of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties stop him from having fun, though.
Just as Norman does, Cooks celebrates his touchdowns with a bow-and-arrow gesture. He has yet to be fined for the celebration, but he can rest assured that a flag and letter in the mail will be coming if he pulls it off again. Both of those things are almost inevitable because Cooks isn’t giving in to the NFL’s desire to take the fun out of celebrations.
"I'm going to figure it out, but I'm not going to change it," Cooks said, via NOLA.com. "The league will have to deal with it. The reason for why I'm doing it and what's behind why I'm doing it doesn't have anything to do with violence.
"So I'm not going to change what I'm doing to satisfy what the league wants. That's not what I'm here to do."
The bow-and-arrow gesture has been deemed a “violent act” by the NFL, but that term doesn’t apply to Cooks’ move. Last year, Cooks explained that it’s a reference to the Bible and a boy named Ishmael, who used archery to survive in the desert.
Of course, Sean Payton might have something to say about Cooks’ celebration if it leads to penalties and hurts the team. Cooks knows that’s certainly a possibility, so that might play a role in how he pulls it off.
"Well there are different forms of doing it. You just can't shoot (the arrow). I'm still going to pull it out,” Cooks said. “Whatever happens after that happens. I don't want to do anything to jeopardize my team, but I'll figure something out.”
Cooks added this:
"It's one of those things that they want to fine anything and get their little ... whatever they want. They're not going to stop me."
Brandin Cooks is FAST.
— NFL (@NFL) November 1, 2015
Like toss it to him and watch him ZOOM for a 26-yard TD fast.#NYGvsNO https://t.co/dAa5w80KOA
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