Raiders’ Brock Bowers and other NFL players celebrate TDs with Trump-inspired dance moves

Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers (89) scores a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

by: The Associated Press

Posted: Nov 17, 2024 / 06:11 PM PST

Updated: Nov 17, 2024 / 06:11 PM PST

The Trump dance is becoming a trend around the NFL.

Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley and Lions defensive end Za’Darius Smith followed Nick Bosa’s lead and celebrated big plays on Sunday with dance moves inspired by President-elect Donald Trump.

Bowers had 13 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown for Las Vegas in a 34-19 loss at Miami. The rookie shook his arms and swayed his hips like Trump after a 23-yard catch-and-run TD.

“I’ve seen everyone do it,” Bowers told USA Today following the game. “I watched the UFC fight (Saturday) night and Jon Jones did it. I like watching UFC so I saw it, and thought it was cool.”

The Raiders didn’t include Bowers’ postgame availability with their other postgame videos. His comment on Trump dance wasn’t included in transcripts provided by the team.

Jones celebrated his victory over Stipe Miocic on Saturday night with the Trump dance. He then pointed to Trump seated ringside at Madison Square Garden and gave him a thumbs-up.

Ridley did the herky-jerky dance while celebrating along with teammate Nick Westbrook-Ikhine during Tennessee’s 23-13 loss to Minnesota.

Smith and Malcolm Rodriguez busted it out after a sack in the fourth quarter of Detroit’s 52-6 rout of Jacksonville.

Bosa, the San Francisco 49ers star defensive end, was fined $11,255 by the NFL for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat during a postgame television interview. The hat violated the league’s NFL uniform and equipment rules. Bosa crashed a television interview that included quarterback Brock Purdy during NBC’s postgame coverage of the Niners’ win over the Dallas Cowboys on Oct. 27 and pointed to the pro-Trump hat.

Last week, Bosa celebrated a sack during San Francisco’s victory over Tampa Bay by doing the Trump dance with teammates.

“It’s been in Ohio as early as the mid-1850s at least, brought in as an ornamental plant because of its unique foliage and white flowers,” Gardner said. “It was actually planted in people’s landscaping, and it has been spreading.”

College players have been doing it for weeks and it’s gone international. Players from the English soccer club Barnsley celebrated a goal with the Trump dance.

____

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL