‘No harm’: Steelers TE Darnell Washington defends celebratory dunk despite penalty

JACKSONVILLE — This article originally appeared on SteelersNOW.com.

Darnell Washington channeled his inner Shaquille O’Neal and pretended a goalpost at EverBank Stadium was a basketball hoop, but a yellow flag wasn’t quite the rating the massive Pittsburgh Steelers tight end had hoped for after his celebratory dunk on Saturday night.

After squeezing a 19-yard touchdown pass from Mason Rudolph on their team’s first offensive series of a preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the 6-foot-7 Washington jammed the ball over the crossbar.

The action drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Before dunking over the goalpost was banned by the NFL in 2014, former Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez did his part in popularizing it. Washington doesn’t think there should be a rule against it.

“Unless it’s, like, excessive hanging on it, then OK … maybe not that,” Washington said afterward. “But, I mean, just a quick little tap or whatever, I feel like (there’s) no harm.”

Click here to read more from SteelersNOW.com.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW