Top 10 Most Disrespectful TD Celebrations in NFL History

Scoring a touchdown in football is one of the hardest feats in all of sports.  For this reason, it is expected for players to pull out a creative celebration when they finally do reach the end zone. 

The more innovative players come up with a signature celebration, such as LaDainian Tomlinson’s ball flip or Victor Cruz’s salsa dance.  Teams also come up with signature celebrations that their fans grow to love, like the Falcons’ “Dirty Bird” dance or the Green Bay Packers’ “Lambeau Leap.”

Unfortunately, players sometimes take this celebration the wrong way and use it as an opportunity to disrespect another player or team.  Some do this by mocking another player's actions, while others come up with their own celebration that takes a jab at their opponent.  These celebrations are usually distasteful and earn strict criticism by the fans and analysts.   

 Here’s my list of the ten most disrespectful touchdown celebrations in NFL history.  

10. Nate Burleson Mocks Cam Newton

After scoring a TD to pull within one score of the Panthers, Nate Burleson decided to mock the rookie sensation and the Superman pose that has become associated with him. 

Not only did Burleson mock the pose, but he also added a little on to the end to tell Cam he’s not really Superman after all.  I guess Burleson was right in this circumstance though, since the Lions end up winning the game by two scores. 

9. Deion Sanders Stares Down His Former Sideline

The man they call “Primetime” was looking to be disrespectful when he returned to Atlanta for the first time since leaving them for the 49ers. 

First, he got into an on-field battle with his former teammate Andre Rison that resulted in fists flying from both players.  Then, later in the game, Sanders intercepted a pass inside his own 10-yard line and returned it to the house, staring down his former teammates on the Falcons’ sideline for the majority of his run down the field.  

8. Stephen Tulloch Tebows

Whenever you watch a Denver Broncos game, you will most likely see Tim Tebow on one knee praying at some point during the game.  I don’t know who started this stupid trend, but copying Tebow’s praying pose or “Tebowing” is one of the biggest crazes right now.  

When Stephen Tulloch sacked Tim Tebow when they played this year, he decided to do a little "Tebowing" of his own.  It’s one thing to mock a player for doing something ridiculous, but to mock a player for praying is just highly disrespectful.     

7. Randy Moss Moons the Crowd

After scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter, Randy Moss showed the crowd in Green Bay exactly what he thought of them when he pulled out this disrespectful touchdown celebration. 

Announcer Joe Buck was particularly offended by Moss’s celebration, calling it a, “disgusting act by Randy Moss.”  If Moss had actually pulled his pants down this dance would be much more disrespectful, but just replicating the act still earned him a spot on this list.

6. T.O. Mocks Ray Lewis

Ray Lewis is one of, if not the baddest dude in the NFL.  Any player who dares to mock him must be either stupid or crazy, or in Terrell Owens’ case, a little bit of both. 

The dance itself looks just as wild as Lewis is. This mocking would be higher on the list if I didn’t respect the guts it took T.O. to even think about doing this in the first place.  

5. Steve Smith Boat Celebration

When Steve Smith scored a TD on Fred Smoot and pulled out this rowboat celebration, most fans probably didn’t even realize he was being disrespectful. 

By doing this though, Smith was making fun of the recent criminal charges against multiple Vikings players, including Smoot, for their lavished boat parties they were hosting. 

Most of the time it’s not funny to mock someone in legal trouble, but when it involves flying in prostitutes and boat orgies, it kind of is.    

4. Justin Gage Teases Titans Fan

This celebration is so high on the list, not because of the celebration itself, but because of the disrespect to an innocent fan.  

Not only did Gage disrespect a fan, but it was a Titans fan who must have paid good money to sit in the first row in Pittsburgh that day.  The fan, which was an adult male, looked like a kid in a candy store when he thought Gage was going to give him the ball after the TD.  If he did that to a Steelers fan it would have been a pretty funny celebration, but not to your own fan.

Why Gage?  Why do that to a fan of yours? Extremely not cool.     

3. MJD Mocks Lebron in Cleveland

All I can say about this one is, wow!  I didn’t know Maurice Jones-Drew had this in him.  Talk about kicking someone when their down.

MJD was relentless when he pulled out the signature Lebron James pre-game ritual after scoring a TD in Cleveland this season.  This is so high on the list because it was disrespectful to the entire crowd and not just a single player.  

2. Stevie Johnson Shoots Himself in the Leg

This celebration was my inspiration for coming up with this list, since I happened to be at this game where Stevie Johnson decided to be extremely disrespectful. 

This celebration was the cause of a lot of controversy and earned Johnson a $10,000 fine. 

In one celebration, Stevie Johnson imitated Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the leg, as well as Santonio Holmes’ “Flight Boys” celebration. 

The Jets got the last laugh though, when Johnson dropped multiple passes late in the fourth quarter that could have won the game for the Bills.  

1. T.O. Poses on the Star in Dallas

If one player was going to make this list twice, it was Terrell Owens.  This celebration tops the list as most disrespectful for numerous reasons. 

One is that this celebration took such a long time to execute, since T.O. needed to sprint all the way to midfield to stand on Dallas’ star. 

Another reason is he did the same celebration again after the crowd furiously booed him the first time.  The second time he did it, George Teauge sprinted after him and tackled him, causing a brawl to ensue on the field.  T.O. had no part of the fight though and continued to pose on the midfield star while his teammates did his dirty work for him.

T.O. will always be remembered for his disrespectful TD celebrations.