Everyone, including Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Joey Bosa, seems to be excited about Halo Infinite’s recent release.
The New York Giants are having a bad season; they’re last in their division with four wins and nine losses, and it didn’t seem like things could get any worse—or so it seemed. With starting quarterback Daniel Jones already out due to injury, backup Mike Glennon was completely routed, and a strip-sack late in the third quarter capped the offense’s woes. Even worse, Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa humiliated Glennon with a teabag celebration inspired by Halo.
Bosa, who was credited with the sack, walked away from the pile, assumed 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, just after Chargers linebacker Justin Jones recovered the ball.
The celebration was finally interrupted by a high-five from teammate Storm Norton, who seemed perplexed by Bosa’s moves and went prone for a moment for added flair.
It didn’t take long for fans to notice what was going on, and by the fourth quarter, Bosa had gone viral. Expensive celebrations and penalties tend to go hand in hand, whether it’s Juju Smith-pre-game Schuster’s dance on the Bengals logo in 2020 or Odell Beckham Jr’s penalized urination imitation a few years ago. The referees in Los Angeles may have been Halo Infinite fans, because Bosa’s bravado was not met with a yellow marker.
In addition, in the 2021 season, the NFL has been strict when it comes to taunting. With the threat of losing fifteen yards looming over every player’s head, the majority of them try to stay under the radar even after big plays. Strangely enough, Bosa’s teabagging was briefly highlighted on the official NFL Twitter account before being quickly removed.
Video games and professional football rarely collide, with the exception of EA’s annual Madden release. Major players like Kyler Murray and Patrick Mahomes can also be seen on Twitch playing and streaming games like Call of Duty: Warzone or Fortnite, and Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Ian Park went viral in 2018 after a video of him singing the Halo theme went viral.
Perhaps Bosa will take advantage of his newfound fame by launching his own Twitch channel. The Chargers, on the other hand, are in a tight playoff race with their division rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs, so he might want to keep his focus on the field until the offseason.
