Natural Flair Lacking

This is just what the NFL wants.

Two evenly matched (as in, identically mediocre) teams playing a reasonably close game without players calling attention to themselves.

The San Francisco 49ers’ 27-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals at 3Com Park had five touchdowns and an outcome that wasn’t decided until the final minute. And yet it still lacked drama, lacked flair, lacked anything that would separate it from the rest of the NFL games on Sunday.

It lacked Terrell Owens.

Let’s face it, the league needs people to stir things up. Last week’s game between the 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys would have been nothing more than a matchup between two has-beens if not for Owens’ post-touchdown antics that drew the ire of Texas upon him.

The wrath--and the blindside hit from Cowboy safety George Teague--that Owens incurred was nothing compared to the treatment he got from 49er Coach Steve Mariucci, who suspended Owens for the Arizona game and docked him a week’s pay.

T.O., come back ASAP. This league is losing color by the minute, turning its players into a bunch of mute robots under the threat of 15-yard penalties or even harsher punishments.

The St. Louis Rams stopped doing the Bob and Weave they performed all the way to the Super Bowl last season, and now they’ve even abandoned the tamer Drop Down they started this season.

The Dirty Bird has flown the coop. Next we’ll see an end to the over-the-crossbar slam dunks.

Of course, there’s a fine line between celebrating and taunting. Owens crossed that line (in addition to the 10-, 20-, 30- and 40-yard lines) when he ran to midfield and spread his arms and looked to the sky, then slammed the ball on the Cowboys’ star in Texas Stadium after his two touchdown receptions.

But the answer isn’t to stop every other act of self-expression. Yet that was the chilling effect of Mariucci’s suspension of Owens.

Owens’ missed weekly salary cost him $24,000.

Three years ago, Denver Bronco linebacker Bill Romanowski spit in the face of 49er receiver J.J. Stokes at 3Com Park. He was fined $7,500 and didn’t sit out a minute of action.

So what’s the message here? That it’s better to spit in an opponent’s face than to figuratively rub it in his face?

That wouldn’t be surprising from a league that always seems to treat end-zone dances with a greater sense of urgency than it does steroid usage or drunk driving by its employees.

It would have been interesting to see what the NFL would have done if Mariucci didn’t handle this matter himself. But the league did tell its officials to vigilantly enforce its taunting and excessive-celebration rules.

So after Charlie Garner’s two touchdown runs Sunday he just tucked the ball under his arm and ran back off the field.

When Jerry Rice caught a touchdown pass he held his arms wide, then dropped them by his side, then leaped into the arms of lineman Derrick Reese.

“I’m old-fashioned,” Rice said. “I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with young guys celebrating or anything like that. I just feel like my job is complete, and I jog to the sidelines.”

It might feel routine to Rice, who has scored more touchdowns than anyone in league history.

But if another guy wants to shake his thang or get his groove on, what’s the harm in that?

It’s fun for the fans when the players do a Lambeau Leap into the stands or bob and weave. Besides, nothing in the NFL compares to some of the elaborate celebrations soccer players go through after they score a goal.

A little good judgment is in order. A 70-yard touchdown pass is cause for a wiggle and shimmy. A five-yard run on second and seven is not.

Let the players decide for themselves when it has gone too far. San Francisco cornerback Jason Webster knew better than to take it too personally when Arizona’s David Boston slowed down and looked at him as he strutted into the end zone for the final 13 yards of a 56-yard touchdown reception.

Webster said he played against Boston in high school and college and he has always acted that way, so Webster didn’t bother to go after him, George Teague-style.

“When you’re out there playing, you’ve got to control yourself,” Webster said. “When you win, you don’t have to retaliate.”

Exactly. There’s nothing harder on trash talkers than for him to eat his own words (right, Keyshawn?), so let the course of the game dictate their punishment. And if some words or actions anger the crowd a little bit, at least they give the fans more reasons to be interested. Unless they’re the types who already find deep meaning in the Atlanta Falcons against the New York Jets.

Don’t make the players look over their shoulders for a penalty flag or nervously await a phone call from the league office after a dance.

Tagliabue said there still is room for fun in the NFL.

“Absolutely,” he said. “You wouldn’t have 85% of the games sell out if there wasn’t a lot of fun in the National Football League.”

No, the stadiums fill up because there is still a lot of violence in the NFL, and that’s what the league sells.

Just as long as the players don’t dance after they clobber someone.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: ja.adande@latimes.com.