Fake an Injury During a Down

[bwburke94]

After the snap, can a fake injury make the defense think the snap is not imminent?

[jTheUmp]

Originally Posted by bwburke94

After the snap, can a fake injury make the defense think the snap is not imminent?

Of course not. What's your point?

[Reffing Rev.]

Originally Posted by bwburke94

After the snap, can a fake injury make the defense think the snap is not imminent?

Are you suggesting this should be legal deception?

[HLin NC]

He's parsing the rule guys. Sometimes we have to do that. He has a point.

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by HLin NC

He's parsing the rule guys. Sometimes we have to do that. He has a point.

Really? This type of "deception" is a Pandora's Box that NOBODY should EVER consider opening or weasel wording (parsing).

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by HLin NC

He's parsing the rule guys. Sometimes we have to do that. He has a point.

If so, I wish he'd explain it.

[MD Longhorn]

I agree with his point.

Seriously... how many times have we seen an ACTUAL injury happen during play that causes someone to scream out. Have we EVER seen the rest of the players quit playing?

I'm not positive we have grounds for a penalty here.

[jTheUmp]

It depends on how you envision it... If someone goes down with an injury while obviously participating in the play (running, tackling, throwing) then nobody's going to stop playing and it's not a foul. And the trainer's probably going to be making an appearance on the field after the play ends.

But, as Reffing Rev described it, that doesn't seem to be the case, especially when the "injured" player gets up and starts celebrating and chest-bumping without being attended to by medical personnel.

Moral of the story, kids... if you're going to fake an injury to help your team score a touchdown or two-point conversion, you need to at least fake the injury long enough to be attended to by the trainer after the play ends.

[bwburke94]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

If so, I wish he'd explain it.

My point is that it's only unsportsmanlike in this particular case if it makes the defense think the snap is not imminent.

It appears that the fake injury was concurrent with or after the snap, so it was not before the snap and is not unsportsmanlike.

Of course, if there's any doubt in whether it happened before the snap, I'm throwing the flag.

[Altor]

No. It's still unsportsmanlike.

However, does that change the enforcement (i.e. live ball vs dead ball foul)?

[HLin NC]

USC during a live ball is succeeding spot enforcement.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by bwburke94

My point is that it's only unsportsmanlike in this particular case if it makes the defense think the snap is not imminent.

It appears that the fake injury was concurrent with or after the snap, so it was not before the snap and is not unsportsmanlike.

Of course, if there's any doubt in whether it happened before the snap, I'm throwing the flag.

Are you going by the inclusion of one implies the exclusion of others? That the only types of unsportsmanlike conduct are those for which examples are given? It's not a violation of the provision that says making the defense think the snap is not imminent by pretending not to be ready is unsportsmanlike. But that's not the only possible unsportsmanlike act!

Fed's provision says, "Examples are, but not limited to:" NCAA's "The Football Code", included in their rules says, "Feigning an injury for any reason is unethical. An injured player must be given full protection under the rules, but feigning injury is dishonest, unsportsmanlike and contrary to the spirit of the rules." NCAA's provision on Unsportsmanlike Acts says, "Specifically prohibited acts and conduct include:", which means there must be nonspecifically prohibited ones too. No code that I know of defines UC in a close-ended manner, but always in an open-ended one, in the understanding that nobody could possibly imagine all the things that might be done in a way that'd be considered unsportsmanlike. It's a technical term that's meant to include the ordinary meaning of the word.