Quote:
Originally Posted by JRutledge
The top statement is the point. If he would have just gone down then the play would have not been a safety. But when players often try to fight for extra yardage and they get away from these kinds of tackles, you let the play continue. Now if the one tackler had brought him down I agree without a question this is not a safety. But the player broke away and had 2 or 3 other players ultimately tackle him. This is not youth ball, these are great athletes. How many great plays do we see on SportsCenter when we think a player is down and they run for a TD or make big yardage after the first contact? The player has to know where he is on the field and stop fighting for yards. A similar thing happen earlier in the game when it appeared an Arkansas player could have been stopped, but was fighting for more yards and had the ball stripped out of his hand. If you are stopped, go down. When you continue to fight for yards, you are responsible for what happens after that until you are ruled to be truly stopped.
Peace
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I'm not sure anyone would've blinked at a loss of yardage if this happened at midfield. Why should the end zone be any different? If he broke the tackle (and he did), then I'll let him gain yards, but I'll also let him lose yards and/or fumble.
I like the window sill analogy, but I don't think it applies here since the tackle was broken.