Week 1: Bills at Patriots
In the middle of the fourth quarter (gamebook), Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas sacked Bills quarterback Trent Edwards for a ten-yard loss. In the process of tackling the quarterback, Thomas pulled Edwards to the ground, drawing a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty.
The Monday Night Football crew all thought this was a particularly questionable call on replay. However, each replay was shown without sound. The quarterback was called in the grasp, and the play was whistled dead. In the continuing action after the whistle, Thomas drove Edwards to the turf. The roughness call was not because of the severity of the takedown, but that Thomas continued after the quarterback clearly after the whistle had blown.
The call, in this case, was correct. Referee Scott Green (in his AFL Legacy orange Creamsicle uniform) was covering on the play.
Here I am watching the double header monday night football ( love it by the way ) and I see another disasterous call by the officials in the chargers/raiders game that cost the raiders a TD.
the raiders receiver caught the ball got left foot down, right foot down, butt down, but that is not enough, being as it was a receiver he must hold the ball for at least 30 seconds more, jump up and dance through the endzone still holding the ball. ( of course they will incurr a penalty for
this but at least they would keep the TD.) if on the other hand it is a running back he can reach out and maybe touch the goal line with the ball, or not and fumble it and they give him a TD. because he broke the plane of the goal line. well I think the rules should be changed, either the running back or other ball carrier should have to hold onto the ball all the way through the play
and demonstrate control of the ball for up to 10 to 15 seconds like they are asking wide receivers to do or else give the receivers a TD. same as the ball carriers get when he has the ball in the end
zone. if he had been a running back and went to the ground and then lost the ball it would not have been a fumble because his backside hit the ground and he still had possession of the ball but because it was a wide receiver some how he didn’t catch the ball, I have never understood this rule and it stinks. if the N.F.L. does not take a look at these rules they will soon lose me as a fan of theirs. ( I should clarify that, I will always be a fan of the 49ers and football just not the governing body of the N.F.L. and their poor rules and interpitation of those rules. I think they should establish a connection with fans so we might let them know what we think about the rules and rulings.
thank you, ninerx15
When a player is going to the ground as part of the catch (on his own or by contact) he must maintain control of the ball once hitting the ground. This keeps catches from being defined by a shoestring catch two-millisecond blip of two toes tapping in bounds. Remember the catch by David Tyree in Super Bowl XLII? He had to maintain control of the ball as he landed, and he just barely kept the ball touching the ground while pinning the ball to his helmet. See our follow-up posts here and here.