According to Future “You can do what you want when you are poppin”.
The Panthers are definitely poppin and they have dabbed, took team photos and beatdown opponents on their way to a 13-0 record.
The team photo taken at the two-minute warning of their 38-0 destruction for the Falcons sparked a discussion of if the act was arrogant, disrespectful, just fun or all of the above. Yahoo.com Charles Robinson had an interesting take on it.
Newton didn’t let the 38-0 win over Atlanta pass without giving his detractors a new moment to grouse about, one that went beyond the typical first-down and touchdown celebrations. While that stuff is a debatable matter of entertainment preference, the Panthers’ offense – including Newton – crossed over a line of arrogance with two minutes left in the game against the Falcons. Closing out the blowout, Newton and more than a dozen offensive players gathered to take a celebratory group photo on the sideline.
There shouldn’t be any issues with celebrating first downs or scores, but players are clearly showing up an opponent when they start taking group celebration photos before a game has concluded. Doing that is disrespectful, plain and simple. Newton and the coaching staff should have known that. Maybe they did and don’t care. Either way, waiting to take the photo until after the game would have been a classier move.
Robinson got a lot of backlash on social media for giving his opinion which is his job. The hard thing to do in these situations is to know when someone is indeed just giving their honest opinion (which I believe Robinson is doing) as opposed to people especially in the media who seem uncomfortable with Cam Newton unabashed alpha male blackness. Then you just have the downright racist and ignorant fans, but nothing you can really do about that.
Was it disrespectful, absolutely, but it isn’t unusual for DOMINANT teams to be disrespectful to their opponents. 85 Bears, 90s Cowboys, Belichick leaving Brady in when Pats are up 100-0 and going for it on 4th downs are just a few examples.
You want to stop a team from looking like IG models and doing New Edition dance routines while the game is on, play better and beat them.
Then you can be the one taking the photos.