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Before 1999 there was a different rule in the NFL, forward pass, ball touches ground.
Does somebody know the exact wording of the rule back then ? Or straight before 1999 the exact wording for incomplete pass ? |
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Everyone's code on forward passes (except, maybe, now NFL's) has the ball becoming dead, and therefore the pass ending, on touching the ground, meaning that the pass had to be completed before the ball touched the ground. It was also widely understood that trapping a loose ball against the ground was one way to gain possession of it, but the trapping was understood to require a finite amount of time with the ball in contact with the ground, while touching was instantaneous, so that the apparent tie between the ball's touching the ground and coming into possession was resolved in favor of touching the ground coming first. |
If you've seen anything further on this, it was basically stated by the league that had CJ instantly raised his arm and spiked the ball while on his butt for that split second, it would've been called a TD...another gray area part of the "second act" part of things.
The NFL would've ruled favorably at either outcome, and now they hush it down for damage control. It was obviously quite clear that CJ never had an issue with controlling the ball...until he went to get up off the ground and used the ball to push off. Where that didn't fall in as "second act" material...I don't know. I'm sure the 2 officials on either side of CJ that signaled TD have had some phone discussions with each other since last weekend. The only thing I like about the overall outcome is that maybe these high-priced characters will think more about the game and less about the celebratory crap afterwards. |
The ruling on the Lions Johnson play was correct and a play like that should never be valid.
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