Okay this is a personal rant of mine. < rant > I don't know what it's technically called but I hear it sometimes. "The ground can't cause a fumble". Um, sure it can? And it used to count. But now the player is "Down by contact". Back when football was football and not players dressed up like ballerinas with helmets and pads on this used to count as a fumble. The other team would have the ball and they would celebrate... and not get flagged for it! It was incredible! The penalty that was called on the Steeler for hittinig Wes Welker. "Unsportsmanlike Conduct". Sure, there should be such a thing. But a wide receiver should not feel like he can just waltz across the middle of the field (which is IMO safety territory and not WR territory) without feeling like his body could be on the line from taking a shot. If you watch guys like Ronnie Lott they used to drill people all the time coming over the middle. This just doesn't make sense. And forward progress. While it makes sense think about this. If a WR catches the ball at say, the 35 yard line and makes it to the 40 but is pulled back to the 30 yard line due players knocking his butt back there he's marked at the 40. but on returns if a guy goes backwards that's where he's marked. Also! I've seen a lot of kickoffs that get touched at the one yard line and then someone comes sliding in to make sure that's where the ball is touched but he slides into the endzone and it's called a touchback. This one really doesn't make sense. If the ball is touched it should count on the 1.. it shouldn't have to be touched twice on kickoffs. < /rant > Either I've got these rules completely wrong or they're highly infuriating. Can anyone clarify these for me? Or vent with me?
Just out of curiosity: If you want to get rid of the down by contact rule, how do you go about defining the end of the play then? Because if the play isn't over when the ballcarrier goes down, when is it over? When enough people are piled up on him? When the fat lady sings? You really lost me on the touchback thing, by the way.
The touchback one happened on a couple of MN or SNF games. I can't remember who; but I think one was a patriots game. I understand what you're getting at about "down by contact" as far as the play being over but just because the player is "down" shouldn't mean that the ground can't cause a fumble.
I agree if a ball is touched by the kicking team is should be dead there, not 3 or 4 times like you mentioned, it is screwed up. Why can't players celebrate TDs but players who sack a QB or picks him off can. Why isn't there a rule that forces people like Brett Farve and Junior Seau retire once and for all.
I still have positively no clue what you're talking about ... I'll ask again: If down by contact doesn't end the play (because if it does, then everything that happens afterwards - such as a fumble - is nullified) when does it end? Also keep in mind that "the ground can't cause a fumble" only applies to down by contact situations. If a player stumbles without an opponent touching him, the ground can indeed cause a fumble, if I'm not terribly mistaken.
Like I said the ground used to cause fumbles even when the player was down by contact. Why change it? I think it made the game more exciting than going under the hood of the replay booth to see if the player was down by contact and if "the ball slipped out before his ___ was down". just call it a ****in' fumble and move on with it. I'll try and find the scenario. Basically what happened, though, is that IMO the ball should have been down at the 1 yard line instead they called it a touchback because of the way the rule is.
To down the ball on punt coverage the punting team has to control the ball to down it, not just touch it. They could touch it a hundred times between the 5 yard line and 1 yard line, but it will not be considered down until it is under control or in the endzone. Posted via Mobile Device
Haha did you see Deion Branch make Seau look like a fool? He even made ESPNs Come on Man! segment, and Key made a crack about how you cant just go from a surfboard to a football game, classic. Ground causing a fumble I understand, and enjoy. It gives the person with the ball a bit more freedom to move and do things like stretch it out without having to worry about landing awkwardly or something like that. If the defense wants the ball, they need to go out and get it, not let the ground do all their work for them. The one that really gets me is the roughing the kicker. Its almost like the kickers got a restraining order on the NFL, you must stay 5 yards away at all times or something. Just having a player run by one seems to cause them to fall over in a heap and yellow flags to come flying in from all over. I understand protecting players in vulnerable spots, and the big investment in the QB, but this is just silly. Let them get knocked over for gods sake. And ofc, who can forget that ******ed tuck rule? Just stupid.
