{"id":223341,"date":"2025-09-13T10:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T10:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/223341\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T10:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T10:41:10","slug":"philadelphia-eagles-jalen-carter-now-poster-child-for-nfl-discipline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/223341\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Eagles&#8217; Jalen Carter now poster child for NFL discipline"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;right:0;bottom:0;width:100%;height:100%;z-index:2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/86059115007-usatsi-27003062.jpg\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"vidplayicon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/appservices\/universal-web\/universal\/icons\/icon-play-alt-white.svg\" alt=\"play\" style=\"height:40px;margin:auto 18px auto 27px;width:40px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>NFL Week 2 predictions: Why we picked Eagles, Steelers, Bengals<\/p>\n<p>If you need help with your NFL picks this week, Lorenzo is here with his three best bets ahead of Sunday&#8217;s games.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter was fined but not suspended for spitting on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.<\/li>\n<li>The incident has made Carter the face of the NFL&#8217;s renewed emphasis on improving sportsmanship.<\/li>\n<li>The NFL is cracking down on non-football acts, which an executive described as having reached an &#8220;intolerable&#8221; level.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/eagles\/2025\/09\/09\/jalen-carter-spit-punishment-philadelphia-eagles-dak-prescott-cowboys\/85983351007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jalen Carter<\/a> just might be the face of the future for game-wrecking defensive tackles in the NFL. Maybe someday the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/sports\/nfl\/philadelphia-eagles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> star will go down with the likes of Aaron Donald, Warren Sapp (aka QB Killa) and Mean Joe Greene for historical greatness.<\/p>\n<p>Someday. Maybe.<\/p>\n<p>As he gears up for the chance to make the life of <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/players\/patrick-mahomes\/839031\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Patrick Mahomes<\/a> a bit miserable on Sunday in a rematch of Super Bowl 59, though, Carter is undoubtedly the current face for the NFL\u2019s campaign on sportsmanship. Or, given his disgusting act of spitting on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/sports\/nfl\/dallas-cowboys\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a> quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/players\/dak-prescott\/591816\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dak Prescott<\/a> before the season opener, he\u2019s at least the poster child for what not to do in the name of sportsmanship.<\/p>\n<p>Carter, 24, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/eagles\/2025\/09\/09\/jalen-carter-spit-punishment-philadelphia-eagles-dak-prescott-cowboys\/85983351007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fined $57,222<\/a> but avoided, well, an extended suspension as the NFL considered his ejection from the game against Dallas as something of a de facto, time-served suspension \u2013 and everybody who might have objected, including the NFL Players Association and Carter\u2019s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, signed off on it without an appeal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"related-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl-picks\/2025\/09\/11\/nfl-week-2-picks-spread-predictions-locks-chiefs-eagles-super-bowl\/86080513007\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL Week 2 picks straight up and against spread: Packers or Commanders on Thursday night?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s fair to question whether he could have drawn a stiffer penalty, but the NFL\u2019s logic with the discipline is tight enough. Carter already missed a game. The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/philadelphia-eagles\/354\" data-autotag=\"c1b3a094-e294-4a77-b1b2-dbdbd5bfa2c5\" rel=\"noopener\">Eagles<\/a>&#8216; defense was weakened in a key game in which the centerpiece player was tossed before playing a single snap. The fine covers his Week 1 game check. And remember, precedents for spitting incidents dictate fines, not suspensions.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, there are always the optics. That Carter spat in such a high-profile moment \u2013 the start of the NFL\u2019s kickoff showcase \u2013 forced a strong response. Then again, had the spitting occurred in, say, the fourth quarter, I\u2019m doubting that the discipline would have been settled as it was \u2013 precedent or not, given the league\u2019s point of emphasis on sportsmanship.<\/p>\n<p>In any event, with his sordid act, Carter unwittingly did the NFL a huge favor, too. No, Roger Goodell didn\u2019t want the filthy controversy to dominate the water cooler talk to kick off the new season. But as the NFL messages about the need for \u201czero tolerance\u201d Carter showed exactly why there\u2019s this spotlight on game-day decorum.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct skyrocketed 133% from 2023, which included a 52% spike in violations for gestures that were sexually suggestive. Taunting penalties had a 55% rise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have clear video examples we\u2019ll share with the players and about what it means to be a professional at all times,\u201d Troy Vincent, the NFL\u2019s executive vice president for football operations, said during the NFL owners&#8217; meetings last spring.<\/p>\n<p>Well, example added.<\/p>\n<p>Vincent, who played 15 NFL seasons as a defensive back, has pretty much adopted a crusade to preserve sportsmanship, with energy similar to efforts over the years to take the helmet out of the game as a weapon, and also take measures to better protect defenseless players. While some deride the NFL as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/columnist\/nancy-armour\/2016\/10\/18\/nfl-team-video-ban-gifs\/92381740\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cNo Fun League\u201d<\/a> when it comes to curbing excessive celebrations, in my opinion there\u2019s clearly a need to cut out the taunting that can ignite fights, gyrating hips that defy standards of decency, \u201cthroat-slash\u201d gestures and surely, mimicking the use of weapons as some sort of celebratory image.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the crackdown, NFL owners last spring also amended a rule that outlawed the so-called \u201cnose wipe\u201d gesture that has been associated with gang culture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of the things we\u2019ve seen, there\u2019s just no place in the game for it,\u201d Vincent said on a video distributed to the NFL community before the season. \u201cThere\u2019s no place in the game to be standing over your opponent. There\u2019s no place in the game to have violent gestures. That\u2019s not the game of football. We just have to play by the rules, respect your opponent, respect your teammates and play the game in between the whistles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a theme similar to the message Vincent shared at the start of the NFL playoffs in January, when he conducted a call with coaches and executives from the 14 playoff teams and maintained that officials would have zero tolerance for non-football acts that had reached what he described as an \u201cintolerable\u201d level.<\/p>\n<p>Vincent told the teams that it wasn\u2019t the mission of officials to inject themselves into a competitive situation by removing players due to unsportsmanlike conduct. Thus, he wanted a heightened alert on conduct and asked that the teams help with the message.<\/p>\n<p>That call set the tone for the offseason actions, including the point of emphasis from officials. For all of that emphasis, though, the NFL probably didn\u2019t foresee a spitting incident to kick off the season. But no doubt it\u2019s part of the package. And now it\u2019s on Carter\u2019s resume as a stain on his reputation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCarter has to be smarter than this, he has to be better than this,\u201d Jason Kelce, the former Eagles center, said during the \u201cNew Heights\u201d podcast he hosts with his brother, Travis. \u201cHe has a chance to be one of the best defensive linemen in this era of football. That\u2019s how good this kid can be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"related-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/columnist\/nate-davis\/2025\/09\/07\/nfl-week-1-takeaways-aaron-rodgers-micah-parsons-eagles\/86035027007\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">32 things we learned in NFL Week 1: Relocated stars Micah Parsons, Aaron Rodgers shine<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Will the NFL\u2019s message on sportsmanship sink in? I\u2019m guessing it hits home with Carter, who quickly apologized for his actions and pledged to be better.<\/p>\n<p>Yet spitting aside, it\u2019ll be interesting to see whether the larger theme on sportsmanship sticks across the league. Not long after Carter was ejected, Eagles linebacker Nolan Smith (who incidentally played with Carter at Georgia) drew a flag for taunting as he flexed and hovered over Cowboys running back Miles Sanders following a tackle.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, Green Bay Packers cornerback Xavier McKinney similarly stood over Detroit Lions receiver Kalif Raymond after blowing up a block in the second quarter. And he hardly regretted getting penalized 15 yards for his taunting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHey, it is what it is,\u201d McKinney told reporters after the game. \u201cI had to set the tone not just for our team but for our defense of how we want to play. I\u2019ll take the flag, I\u2019ll live with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, not everyone is buying into the NFL\u2019s efforts to preserve sportsmanship.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Contact Jarrett Bell at <a href=\"mailto:jbell@usatoday.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">jbell@usatoday.com<\/a> or follow on social media: On X: @JarrettBell<\/p>\n<p>On Bluesky: jarrettbell.bsky.social<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NFL Week 2 predictions: Why we picked Eagles, Steelers, Bengals If you need help with your NFL picks&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":223342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[1437,68771,691,5229,8015,8019,35132,3189,57230,13555,446,9150,2488,1318,2487,11652,7226,66647,43939,1100,101821,62433,43940,34968,13363,1571,5382,451,50,1232,12623,33797,64230,1269,8614,450,457,1448,15912,34238,2830,1311,1105,41211,101822,4157,62,1458,645,2490,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,383,121165],"class_list":{"0":"post-223341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-aaron","9":"tag-aaron-donald","10":"tag-ai","11":"tag-america","12":"tag-american","13":"tag-american-football","14":"tag-carter","15":"tag-content","16":"tag-dak","17":"tag-dak-prescott","18":"tag-donald","19":"tag-eagles","20":"tag-enabled","21":"tag-football","22":"tag-highlights","23":"tag-hub","24":"tag-jalen","25":"tag-jalen-carter","26":"tag-jason","27":"tag-jason-kelce","28":"tag-kalif","29":"tag-kalif-raymond","30":"tag-kelce","31":"tag-mahomes","32":"tag-mckinney","33":"tag-national","34":"tag-national-sports","35":"tag-negative","36":"tag-news","37":"tag-nfl","38":"tag-nfl-hub","39":"tag-nolan","40":"tag-nolan-smith","41":"tag-opinion","42":"tag-opinion-content","43":"tag-overall","44":"tag-overall-negative","45":"tag-pa","46":"tag-patrick","47":"tag-patrick-mahomes","48":"tag-pennsylvania","49":"tag-philadelphia","50":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","51":"tag-prescott","52":"tag-raymond","53":"tag-smith","54":"tag-sports","55":"tag-sports-news","56":"tag-story","57":"tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","58":"tag-united-states","59":"tag-united-states-of-america","60":"tag-unitedstates","61":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","62":"tag-us","63":"tag-usa","64":"tag-xavier","65":"tag-xavier-mckinney"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}