In last night’s Redskins’ preseason finale, Brandon Banks returned a punt 95 yards for a touchdown. It was impressive, but it wasn’t that impressive – Banks just ran it up the gut and outran a punter – but it was the only real highlight of the game and a highlight nonetheless. It made Mike Shanahan smile, it made Banks dance, and it earned ex-Redskin and color analyst Joe Theismann’s praise.
That was until the play was brought under a lengthy review when it appeared Banks might have finger rolled the ball out of his hand in premature celebration before he actually crossed the goal line. Shanahan’s face turned to stone; Banks was still excited, but clearly nervous as he paced the sidelines; and Joe Theismann was all of a sudden appalled by Banks’ showboating:
Not that Theismann is wrong about hot doggin’ not getting it done. There’s no excuse for Banks to come that close to losing that touchdown, but it’s kind of funny how Theismann was all, ‘he’s electric,’ and ‘how do you make a football team?’ after Banks scores and then quickly does a 180 and suggests his hot dogging could cost him his roster spot and even his career. You didn’t need a replay to see that Banks was hot dogging it on his way into the end zone. And Theismann gets so caught up in his little spiel, he does a complete disservice to Muhammad Ali’s “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” by adding “make sure you get the ball in your hand or else you won’t get a TD.” To cap it all off, Theismann was wrong that the touchdown would absolutely get overturned, because it was ultimately upheld.
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