PITTSBURGH -- Steelers players say Pro Bowl wide receiver Antonio Brown should be able to twerk and thrust as he chooses, without fine or penalty.
Brown received his second unsportsmanlike conduct flag of the season for his two-pump twerking dance in the end zone during Sunday's 43-14 win over the Chiefs.
"That's what happens when you give someone (commissioner Roger Goodell) total power," said guard Ramon Foster, the team's player union rep. "There are other guys who have done worse. AB's just having fun. Don't make it the 'No Fun League.'"
Brown was fined $12,154 in Week 1 for a similar touchdown celebration (three pumps that time), and a second offense equals a $24,309 fine.
According to the NFL rulebook, officials can police "actions that are sexually suggestive or can otherwise be construed as being in poor taste."
Brown's dancing replicates a sketch from the television comedy "Key & Peele" called "McCringleberry's excessive celebration."
Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats said the NFL's rule is vague, citing yoga as something that could be perceived as suggestive but is really "a nice artform of stretching." Moats then joked Brown was "just stretching in front of 70,000 people."
"Since Antonio is a trailblazer with his celebrations this year, we're still in a gray area," Moats said. "At first it was [three] pumps, then we thought it was two, now we're trying to figure it out. If he tries one and he gets flagged, then we know any pump is bad. Are shoulders OK? Because we have to figure it out. It's trial and error. We need to gather data."
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers agreed with the Steelers players, saying the NFL should embrace, not penalize, celebrations like the one Brown had.
"That's the beauty of our game. We encourage our guys to be themselves," Rodgers said. "You can't keep a guy like Mike Daniels quiet. You love that passion out there on the field. We talked about it a couple of games ago, 'Hey, express yourself.' We need more of Jordy Nelson catching the ball and getting the fans involved. We all kind of ribbed him a little bit, but we loved that. We loved the energy and the emotion and the passion out there.
"You just can't let it affect your team in a negative way. They are doing some interesting penalties. I saw Antonio Brown got flagged a couple times for doing a Key and Peele dance. I think the NFL used that maybe on their Twitter site as promoting the excitement and fun of the game. So, I don't know where the line of that is. There's jokes at times about the No Fun League. I hope we can keep the excitement and celebrations in the game and not try to restrict them like the NCAA does."
During his Tuesday news conference, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said the Steelers would like clarity on what Brown can and can't do in the end zone. The league is releasing an explanatory video to teams in light of the rise in unsportsmanlike penalties, which are up 56 percent this season, according to ESPN's Stats & Information research.
The way Foster sees it, Brown's pockets are the only thing affected negatively by the dancing.
"The crowd enjoys it. I've seen social media go crazy over it," Foster said. "If anything, it's business for the league."
Information from ESPN's Jason Wilde and Rob Demovsky was used in this report.