What do you get for having a good heart on Christmas?
A 15-yard penalty – that's what.
Ravens fourth-round rookie wide receiver Chris Moore quickly found out the college rules last Christmas.
At the end of a 47-yard reception in the Hawaii Bowl, Moore gave the football to a young fan in the stands. The officials flagged him for an unsportsmanlike penalty, costing Cincinnati's offense 15 yards. It didn't matter much in a 42-7 loss to San Diego, but still …
"I felt bad. The worst part is they took the ball from him," Moore said. "After the game, I gave him a bunch of my gear and stuff, so hopefully he felt good after that."
Moore laughed and threw up his arms in disbelief before heading to the sideline. His coaches couldn't even be angry with him.
"They just said to be smart," Moore said. "Who knew?"
As opposed to college rules, NFL players are allowed to give the ball to someone in the stands – after a touchdown. Panthers quarterback Cam Newton finds a kid after each of his scores, and Moore can't wait to do the same.
"I'm keeping the first one, and then after that, it's free game," he said.
Moore scored 26 times* *in his four college seasons. He consistently found the end zone once he was a full-time player, notching nine touchdowns as a sophomore, eight as a junior and seven as a senior.
Moore has been pigeon-holed as a big-play threat because he averaged 19.3 yards per grab over his career and never had more than 45 catches in a single season. But since being drafted in the fourth round by the Ravens, he's been working with Wide Receivers Coach Bobby Engram to be more.
"I had to do that at Cincinnati since it was my role," Moore said. "Every day I'm working to be better at all aspects of receiving. I'm working on the top of my routes to get better at my short game. So they'll see when game day comes."
