In an easy Sunday night win over the Colts, Ezekiel Elliott returned to a familiar prop for an end zone celebration: the giant, red Salvation Army kettle.

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Following a four-yard scamper, Zeke headed back to the big kettle and, this time got some help from his QB.

Zeke did this before, back in 2016. He was fined $13K by the league.

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I’m a 50-something-year-old white dude so, naturally, I HATE end-zone showboating. Except, I don’t hate this. Here’s why:

First, it looks like a lot of fun. I mean, why HAVE a giant kettle in the end zone unless you WANT players to jump in it?? Second, it actually HELPS a worthy cause. Back in 2016, the Salvation Army itself said that Zeke’s kettle jump caused a significant boost in donations.

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Donations to the Salvation Army help to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, aid with disaster assistance and provide toys for kids who might otherwise not get any. The Salvation Army estimated that donations in the Dallas metro area were up by over $800,000 BECAUSE of Zeke’s original kettle jump.

The NFL fined him anyway.

They also fined four Cowboys when they did something similar earlier this year on Thanksgiving.

For playing whack-a-mole in the kettle, the No Fun League fined Dalton Schultz 13 grand, Jake Ferguson 5K, Peyton Hendershot almost 4 thou, and Sean McKeon just under 5,000.

I love that the Cowboys put a new twist on the kettle jump each time. The most recent had Dak Prescott “winding” the kettle and Elliott popping out like a jack-in-the-box.

I also love that this has become a Christmas tradition for the ‘Boys. Following the Thanksgiving whack-a-mole game, Dak told the media that the entire team would pool their money to pay the NFL’s fines against the celebrating players.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the League were to re-donate that money BACK to the Salvation Army?

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