Touchdown Was Fine With Anthony Miller

Anthony Miller was a happy guy. He had just caught his first touchdown pass since Oct. 28.

So he threw the ball in the stands. And then a fan dropped it. So he threw it back again.

That cost him $500. NFL rules.

“I saw somebody up in the stands, so I thought I’d toss it to them,” Miller said after the Chargers’ victory over the New York Jets Sunday. “I heard it costs $200, and now I hear it costs $500. So that’s the last time I do that.”

After he did it, the referee threw a flag and said a five-yard penalty for demonstration would be assessed on the ensuing kickoff. A minute later, the referee changed his mind and told Charger Coach Dan Henning that Miller would be fined but there would be no penalty.

“For some unusual reason,” Henning said, “the demonstration penalty is based on the judgment of the officials as to whether it was preconceived, which is silly. You’ve got to get in the guy’s head.

“Maybe Anthony’s been figuring this out for three weeks because he hasn’t had a touchdown in a while. If it were me, I’d have given him a five-yard penalty because I think he said somewhere along the line: ‘I’m going to throw that (ball) in the seats when I get it.’ ”

Henning was asked to confirm the amount of the fine.

“Five hundred dollars, I think,” he said.

It was pointed out that Miller had thrown the ball in the stands twice. Does that make it $1,000?

“One ball is worth 500 dollars,” Henning responded.