AP

After Saints running back Mark Ingram scored a touchdown on Sunday, he threw the football against the wall near the end zone in celebration. The ball then ricocheted off the wall and hit a stadium worker standing nearby. Ingram was flagged on the celebration, but not for throwing the ball, or for the bad bounce the ball took.

NFL V.P. of officiating Dean Blandino said in a video distributed to the media today that throwing the ball after scoring a touchdown is not a penalty.

“[Ingram] was penalized, but not for that act — throwing the ball at the back wall is not a foul,” Blandino said.

Ingram’s flag was actually because he and a teammate appeared to do a group celebration that was choreographed.

“There was another New Orleans player out of the camera shot that was part of this demonstration,” Blandino said. “That’s choreographed, that’s a demonstration, that’s the rule. Unsportsmanlike conduct. . . . Can’t do a choreographed demonstration after a score, after a sack, whatever it is. Fifteen yards assessed on the kickoff.”

The good news for Ingram is that he wasn’t fined for the celebration, which will go down as his last celebration of the year. He was placed on injured reserve this week.