The New York Giants are in the midst of a miserable season; last in their division with four wins and nine losses, things couldn’t get much worse—or so it seemed. With starting quarterback Daniel Jones already out due to injury, backup Mike Glennon was subjected to an absolute routing, and a strip-sack late in the third quarter punctuated the team’s offensive struggles. Worse still, Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa humiliated Glennon with a Halo-inspired teabag celebration.
Just after Chargers linebacker Justin Jones recovered the ball, Bosa, who was credited with the sack, walked away from the pile, adopted a rigid stance while pretending to hold a rifle of some sort, and did a surprisingly accurate rendition of the infamous teabag move performed by players in many online games. Going prone for a moment for a little added flair, the celebration was finally interrupted by a high-five from teammate Storm Norton, who seemed a bit bewildered by Bosa’s moves.
It didn’t take long for fans to pick up on what was going on, and Bosa was going viral before the fourth quarter began. Typically, when a player’s celebration goes viral, it’s due to controversy; be it Juju Smith-Schuster’s pre-game dance on the Bengals logo in 2020 or Odell Beckham Jr’s penalized urination imitation a few years ago, elaborate celebrations and penalties tend to go hand in hand. The referees in Los Angeles may have been fans of Halo Infinite, however, as Bosa’s boasting wasn’t met with a yellow marker.
Additionally, the NFL has been strict when it comes to taunting in the 2021 season. With the threat of giving up fifteen yards hanging heavy over every player, most are careful to keep on the down-low even after major plays. Weirdly enough, Bosa’s teabagging was highlighted briefly on the official NFL Twitter account, though it was swiftly taken down.
Aside from EA’s yearly Madden release, video games and professional Football very rarely cross over. That said, major figures like Kyler Murray and Patrick Mahomes can be seen playing games like Call of Duty: Warzone or Fortnite on Twitch, and Philadelphia Eagles lineman Ian Park went viral after a recording of him singing the Halo theme in 2018.
Perhaps Bosa will use the newfound attention to launch his own Twitch channel. The Chargers, however, are in a heated contest for playoff contention against their division rivals in the Kansas City Chiefs, so he may want to keep his focus on the field until the offseason rolls around.