Yeah, I think most people agree with that. There’s an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that should get used when they do something jerky or are clearly taunting. This is the one occasion where I think people would be able to stomach a ref being completely subjective, unlike holding and pass interference.
The league apparently didn’t trust it’s refs to do that and implemented prescribed rules. Ironic considering the rest of the stuff that’s really vaguely written.
If you’re referring to a player tossing a ball indiscriminately after making a play (but not after a TD), I always took it as a player forcing a ref to make a spot on the ball without the ball as a guide. You’ll see this often when a player seems to think he didn’t make a first - he tosses the ball out of the way to force the refs to make a choice without evidence sitting there. Kind of the opposite of when a player stretches forward after getting tackled to put the ball down farther upfield and make it look like he gained more yards. I’ve even seen opposing players come kick the ball away to force the refs to make a decision without the ball there to guide with.
Gamesmanship. That was always my take. (IF we’re talking about the same thing)
Yep, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. I thought that’s why they did it, and kinda hinted towards that in my post earlier, but that was just a guess on my part.