NFL Week 4 Celebration Grades: Golden Tate shotguns a football, Browns tight ends go full 'Dragon Ball Z'
It wasn't the strongest week for showboating, but two celebrations stood above the rest
Style points may not show up on the box score, but they do in our weekly NFL celebration grades. Showmanship is as much an art as football itself, so it's important to appreciate the celebratory displays that we'll see every weekend during the NFL season. It's also important to roast the players who clearly need to work on their celly game.
Here's what we had to work with in Week 4.
Repeat offenders
The two most important ingredients in a great celebration are style and creativity. Unfortunately, you gradually lose some of those creativity points if we see you go back to the same well with the same celebration over and over again. This week, there were two celebrations that we've already covered in here in past weeks.
The first came from Donte Montcrief, who broke out a very solid air guitar solo for a B+ in Week 2. He went back to the air guitar this past Sunday against the Jets, though he added a slight twist on it. This time, he had Keelan Cole pretend to hand him the guitar. That's about where the variation ends, though. Montcrief delivered a near identical performance with the guitar, so we've gotta dock points for that. Find a new slant. Grade: C
How did @Air4Cole sneak that air guitar onto the field for Moncrief? 😂 @drm_12 pic.twitter.com/ifqoP1BYqB
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) September 30, 2018
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Then, for the second week in a row, Alex Collins broke out an Irish step dance celebration. I'm telling you, nobody loves riverdancing more than this guy. Unfortunately, I wasn't overly impressed with his effort last week (he earned a C-) and this one isn't much different. Grade: D
A little Sunday night Riverdance from @Budda03 pic.twitter.com/mEl4I6b2Nz
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) October 1, 2018
Cordarrelle gets comfy
Cordarrelle Patterson picked up his first touchdown as a member of the Patriots on Sunday, burning the Dolphins defense for a big 55-yard touchdown. Upon finding paydirt, he decided to kick his shoes off and get a little comfy in the endzone. I want to believe this was a shot at former exec Mike Lombardi, who said during the week that Tom Brady would "never" trust Patterson. Unfortunately, there's just not enough evidence to back up that claim. In any case, I think Patterson may have had something better here had he been a little more ambitious and committed to it. This just felt like a tease. Grade: C-
Me posting up on my couch for NFL Sunday pic.twitter.com/8siPRLzYgP
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) September 30, 2018
Derek Barnett got you good
Sure, it's a pretty funny sack celebration and the execution was commendable, but now the joke's on Barnett; he has to spend this week punching half the country. Grade: B
Tag your friends, they need to see this celebration 👀 pic.twitter.com/C1qISeq2IU
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) September 30, 2018
Tajae Sharpe goes bowling
It's not the first time we've seen this done, but it's the first time this year and it's always appreciated to see a classic brought back after it's had time to breathe. It's a joy to see so many teammates be involved in a celebration, especially when they all perform quite well. The timing was solid between the Titans "pins" here, and they get plenty of bonus points for the hilarious sound effect as they went down. Grade: B+
.@Show19ine with a great release and follow through here 🎳 pic.twitter.com/3R534OCxaO
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) September 30, 2018
Golden Tate is here to party
The Lions wide receiver had himself one heck of a Sunday, and not just on the stat sheet. Tate caught 8 passes for more than 130 yards and two touchdowns against the Cowboys, but he also contributed some style points. And some party points. After one of his touchdowns, Tate pretended the pigskin was a beer and he shotgunned that baby like a true champ. It only could have been better if he then pretended to drunkenly break into a donut shop at 3 a.m. afterward. Grade: A-
Golden Tate shotgunning a football, hell yeah pic.twitter.com/8tNyCfVvN3
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) September 30, 2018
On another note, Tate nearly had the worst celebration of the weekend with this display. I'd say this is cutting it just a litttttttle too close for comfort.
GOLDEN TATE TAUNT GAWD PART DEUX pic.twitter.com/kNQTXX9G0I
— Isaac (@WorldofIsaac) September 30, 2018
Browns Fusion
It's been a big year for fusion. Not only is Tiger Woods back, but now the Cleveland Browns are teaming up for some anime-inspired celebrations. Admittedly, I'm not the biggest "Dragon Ball Z" fan so I don't fully appreciate or understand the significance of this celebration, but it's creative and my anime-appreciating friends seemed to get a kick out of it. Grade: A-
Fells and Njoku did the fusion dance to become Fjoku 🔮 @DarrenFells @David_Njoku80 pic.twitter.com/zxSqEHZB5Q
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) September 30, 2018
This thing has been weeks in the making. Darren Fells and David Njoku have been discussing it since HBO was on-hand to capture this conversation at training camp.
Fells and Njoku have been planning on fusing into Fjoku since training camp 🔮 @DarrenFells @David_Njoku80 pic.twitter.com/seLE1fJ34J
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) October 1, 2018
















