The NFL is a league that loves rules. The league is constantly tweaking the product to try and optimize the game, most recently by implementing XFL-style kickoff rules for the 2024 season. However, the same also applies to penalties that have a wide range of intended purposes. The NFL is doubling down on its enforcement of one specific rule this season.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke on Tuesday about players being penalized and fined for gun-themed celebrations. Goodell and the NFL intend to enforce the long-standing league policy, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.

“It’s a long-standing policy and we are going to enforce that,” Goodell said. “…Troy (Vincent) had a direct conversation with the union I think just last week about it. We’re going to continue on that focus. We don’t think it’s appropriate in those circumstances and sends the wrong messages. So, we’ll continue to do that.”

The NFL is trying to send a message to players to stop doing “finger gun” celebrations. The league issued eight penalties and fines on players for these celebrations through the first four weeks of the season, per The Athletic's Mike Jones.

Jones points out that while this may seem like a sudden crackdown, NFL and team officials say it is consistent with the league's distaste for violent gestures on the field.

It will be interesting to see if the NFL's penalties and fines have an impact on players' behavior during their celebrations moving forward.

NFL penalties under the spotlight after bonkers Bills-Jets MNF game

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Penalties have been under the spotlight all season, but that has increased after this past week of action.

The Monday Night Football game between the Bills and Jets was a particularly egregious example of a game bogged down by flags. One stat tells the whole story.

ESPN's Field Yates compared the penalty yardage from this game with scrimmage yards leaders from each team. Both teams combined for 204 penalty yards, an average of 102 penalty yards per team. Compare that with Breece Hall (169 scrimmage yards) and Ray Davis (152 scrimmage yards) and you see how big of an impact penalties had on the game.

Those 204 penalties yards are the most in any game so far this season. It may not be the most penalty yardage in a game in league history (the record is 310 yards) but it is still incredibly high.

Now that the NFL has issued a statement about gun-themed celebrations, it will be interesting to see if anything happens related to penalty frequency moving forward.