Did Vernon Davis Deserve an Excessive Celebration Penalty for This? (Picture)

Obviously this is now a moot point thanks to Kyle Williams and other San Francisco struggles, but this struck me as somewhat odd when watching NFC Championship.  First of all, officials usually let a bit more slide in terms of excessive celebration and unnecessary roughness in the playoffs.  For the most part, referees would rather not have a flag like that affect the outcome of the game unless it is completely necessary.  Was it completely necessary to flag Vernon Davis for jumping on the cameraman’s platform after he scored a touchdown on Sunday night?

Davis didn’t celebrate with teammates and he didn’t go to the ground in celebration.  I suppose what he did could qualify as using a prop in some way, but if that’s the case why are players allowed to dunk the ball through the goal posts after scoring or leap into the stands?  Personally, I thought the refs should have let this one go in a game of that magnitude.