Ezekiel Elliott scolds NFL over Salvation Army kettle penalty: 'I'll pay their little fine'
On Thanksgiving, Ezekiel Elliott dropped $21 and Dak Prescott into a giant Salvation Army kettle during a win over the Washington Redskins.
His donation ended up costing him more than $13,000. The Dallas Cowboys running back did so while celebrating touchdowns, which drew the ire of the NFL’s fine police, who docked him $13,369 for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Giving @Dak!
Runs it in for the TD & jumps in the @SalvationArmyUS red kettle. #FightForGood
Donate now by texting "kettles" to 91999 pic.twitter.com/LFl7JWsUdp
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) November 23, 2018
Elliott bites back after being fined by NFL
On Wednesday, Elliott lashed out at the NFL.
“I mean, I didn’t really expect a fine,” Elliott told reporters. “Really don’t care about the fine. It’s all for a good cause. We’re trying to bring awareness to the Salvation Army. If the NFL doesn’t like that, then, that’s on them. I’ll pay their little fine.”
Despite agreeing to “pay their little fine,” Elliott plans to appeal.
Elliott’s right
Elliot has a point. In an obtuse attempt to stay consistent on its no-props-during-celebrations rule, the NFL made a boneheaded decision to penalize an act that offended a grand total of nobody.
Elliott had fun while scoring, brought attention to a good cause and created positive press for a league that constantly finds itself in desperate need of it.
So of course a fine was the proper course of action.
Where will the fine money go?
“A lot of things they do define ridiculous,” Elliott said of the NFL. “But I mean, that’s not really any of my business, not really anything I can change, so I’m just going to keep being focused on this season, keep being focused on leading this team and focused on going out there and winning ball games.”
Elliott and Prescott both backed up their in-game stunts with $21,000 donations to the Salvation Army. If there’s any semblance of sense with the league decision makers on this one, that’s exactly where Elliott’s fine money will go too.
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Jason Owens is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter.
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