Jets running back Isaiah Crowell celebrated a September touchdown against his former team, the Browns, by pretending to wipe his rear end with the ball before throwing it into the stands. On Tuesday, the NFL decided that was well beyond the pale, and, per reports, the league fined him $13,369.
Jets Coach Todd Bowles had not sounded quite as happy a note after the game in which the celebration occurred, a 21-17 loss in Cleveland that saw New York squander a 14-0 lead. Crowell, who spent his first four years with the Browns before joining the Jets in the offseason, scored both of the team’s touchdowns and after the second, he relieved himself of some pent-up emotions regarding his former team.
Isaiah Crowell with the 💩 celebration 😂😂pic.twitter.com/1wQPZcTQar
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) September 21, 2018
“It was inexcusable,” Bowles said at the time of the celebration, which earned Crowell and his team a 15-yard penalty. “We talked about it and it will never happen again.”
The New York Post reported that Bowles told Crowell on the sideline, “I understand your passion, but you can’t be selfish!”
“I agree,” the running back told reporters shortly thereafter. “I can’t do my teammates like that.”
Even Crowell’s mother expressed her disappointment, telling ESPN she was “literally shocked” by what she saw. “Isaiah is such a mild-mannered person; he usually doesn’t do much celebrating,” she said. “I’ve never seen him go to that extreme. I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I had a crowd of people in the house. He told me it just happened in the heat of the moment. As a mother, I wish he hadn’t done it.”
“It was spur of the moment,” he explained. “My passion came out.”
To Dude Wipes, though, it was “a wipe to remember,” as the company put it in a Twitter post Tuesday. Right after the celebration took place, Dude Wipes had tweeted out a video clip, telling Crowell, “Have your people call our people.”
Not surprisingly, for a company pitching its products so overtly to male consumers, this isn’t the first time it’s partnered with a professional athlete. MMA fighter Tyron Woodley has been involved in a marketing campaign, and earlier this year, Dude Wipes became the primary sponsor of NASCAR driver Matt DiBenedetto.
Now Crowell is making the most of his notoriety, with a product that he can only hope helps him wipe away the memory of the Jets' most recent game, in which they circled the drain in Jacksonville, losing, 31-12, to the Jaguars for their third straight loss as he gained just three yards on five touches. Despite the stain on his résumé, he still leads the Jets in rushing, even if teammate Bilal Powell’s advantages in overall touches and yards indicate that Crowell is really the No. 2 back.
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