Vernon Hargreaves inactive but runs on the field to celebrate and Bengals get penalized

Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III is inactive for the Super Bowl, and he didn’t exactly do himself any favors for being active next season.

In the second quarter, Bengals DB Jessie Bates picked off Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford in the end zone. The Bengals got a touchback out of it, but then Hargreaves ran on the field to celebrate in the end zone with his teammates.

We appreciate the enthusiasm, but it resulted in the Bengals getting flagged for an illegal celebration. The penalty yardage was half the distance to the end zone and so the Bengals were stuck starting at the 10 instead of the 20.

Here’s some video of Hargreaves being a bit of a dummy. The Bengals could not get anything going on the ensuing drive and punted back to the Rams with 30 seconds left in the second quarter. The Rams lead the Bengals 13-10.