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To: foreverfree
Down by contact calls may be reviewed by instant replay.

This is a bad idea. There was a good reason why these plays weren't "reviewable" in the past. If an official blows his whistle and rules a player down by contact, he has effectively ended the play -- and all players on the field are expected to stop play when the whistle blows. By exposing these calls to official review, the NFL is basically saying that a whistle may or may not signal the end of a play -- so players should ignore it and make every attempt to strip the ball away from a ballcarrier.

11 posted on 08/12/2006 7:50:59 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (Can money pay for all the days I lived awake but half asleep?)
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To: Alberta's Child; KarlInOhio
I agree. The pileups are bad enough, now.

Also, on the review time being limited to 60 seconds, when has an officiating team ever followed the rules about review time, anyway?

17 posted on 08/12/2006 7:57:42 PM PDT by Richard Kimball (The most important thing is sincerity. Once you can fake that, everything else is easy.)
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To: Alberta's Child; All

Not sure I agree with your interpretation. It does not say say that when a whistle is blown will be overruled, just that the call "down by contact" can be reviewed.

Now what happens if the ball is then determined to have not been recovered when the whistle has blown, then what? I imagine the offense retains possession. This should happen during the pre-season, has anyone seen it happen yet?

This rule is as well explained as the inadvertant whistle rule where they state teams may decide now to accept play... Teams plural? How do they decide which team ultimately gets to decide? They should state which.

Perhaps in the above example the result of the review is that the player was not down by contact. Then the play is also changed to have ended by "inadvertant whistle" as a result of the review. Now the new inadvertant whistle rule (last one in this new list) take effect and the Defense is given the option to either accept the play as "down by contact" as originally called, or void the down and have it replayed.

The NFL just wants the play to decide the outcome and not the officials. Well that and higher scoring games. And if the hitting the QB rules weren't silly enough, now they want to make sure the defense doesn't make eye contact with them either. Geesh.


37 posted on 08/13/2006 12:14:59 PM PDT by Diplomat
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