The Pittsburgh Steelers warned Jeremy Hill against disrespecting the Terrible Towel after Sunday's game, which featured Hill pretending to rip one after a four-yard touchdown.
Hill's score gave the Cincinnati Bengals a 17-3 lead with 9:02 left in the second quarter, but the Steelers went on a 21-3 run to claim the victory.
"Anybody that's grabbed it has had something unfortunate happen," Ramon Foster said. "I hate to say the towel is cursed when you disrespect it, but you can't do that. That's too early in the game to be doing that type of stuff. He's a pro. I'm sure his coaches would talk to him."
Hill rushed for 44 yards on his first 14 carries but netted minus-1 yards on the six attempts after he found the towel on the ground and taunted Steelers fans with it.