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Only the player in possession of the ball can be "downed". Since the defender in your example didn't have the ball at the time of the contact (it was loose) there's no way he can be called down at that point.
*AFTER* he catches (has possession of) the ball he can be considered down if any part of his body, other than his hands or feet, is touching the ground AND he is contacted by a defender... BUT in your example, even though he was sitting on the ground, there was no contact by a defender so he is free to get up and run the ball.
Really... if you think about it... it would be pretty weird if you could end the down by tackling some guy who was *CLOSE TO* the ball, but not actually holding it.
Of course, I'm assuming you're talking NFL.
-Sean---
[Edited by SeanWest on Jan 1st, 2004 at 04:37 PM]
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