Bills kickoff to the Texans. Texan takes the kick 7 yards deep in the endzone. Walks towards the whitehat and tosses him the ball. Whitehat jumps out of the way and when the Bills pick the ball up, signals TD Bills.

 

Texan returner of course loses his mind. Feeling he had given himself up, he thought the play was dead.

 

Alternate officials come onto the field to talk to the whitehat. After a few minutes of discussion, it is ruled that the returner gave himself up...1st and 10 Texans, no Bills TD.

 

I was shocked that a whitehat in the NFL would ever change his mind on a call like that.

:lol2:

Bills next punt into the endzone, a Bills player flat runs over one of the fellas in the striped shirts.

Add to the list the fumble recovery where two personal fouls that nullified each other were issued.

 

It sounded like there may have been a weak whistle after the Bill player was helped up and started running. By pro rules he was not down and was viable runner.

 

 

And on the Josh Allen fumble I have a question - if a pro QB is not sliding but his knee is down and the without touching the QB, a defense player knocks out the ball - should that not be a live ball?

Bills kickoff to the Texans. Texan takes the kick 7 yards deep in the endzone. Walks towards the whitehat and tosses him the ball. Whitehat jumps out of the way and when the Bills pick the ball up, signals TD Bills.

 

Texan returner of course loses his mind. Feeling he had given himself up, he thought the play was dead.

 

Alternate officials come onto the field to talk to the whitehat. After a few minutes of discussion, it is ruled that the returner gave himself up...1st and 10 Texans, no Bills TD.

 

I was shocked that a whitehat in the NFL would ever change his mind on a call like that.

 

I'm not. You see this happen Sunday. Not sure what the the official was thinking when he made his original call.

Bills kickoff to the Texans. Texan takes the kick 7 yards deep in the endzone. Walks towards the whitehat and tosses him the ball. Whitehat jumps out of the way and when the Bills pick the ball up, signals TD Bills.

 

Texan returner of course loses his mind. Feeling he had given himself up, he thought the play was dead.

 

Alternate officials come onto the field to talk to the whitehat. After a few minutes of discussion, it is ruled that the returner gave himself up...1st and 10 Texans, no Bills TD.

 

I was shocked that a whitehat in the NFL would ever change his mind on a call like that.

 

It was only a matter of time and I imagine there are other instances like this. The NFL made some type of change over the last few years where sometimes they just blow the whistle on kickoffs when the player receiving the ball in the endzone has not given himself up and/or downed the football.

 

In other words, based on what I see on occasion, I don't understand the rule.

It was only a matter of time and I imagine there are other instances like this. The NFL made some type of change over the last few years where sometimes they just blow the whistle on kickoffs when the player receiving the ball in the endzone has not given himself up and/or downed the football.

 

In other words, based on what I see on occasion, I don't understand the rule.

 

Situations like that and also player safety is why the National Federation rules make a ball crossing the goal line on a kick or punt a dead ball. I really like the new NCAA rule of fair catching the kickoff and getting it at the 25.

It was only a matter of time and I imagine there are other instances like this. The NFL made some type of change over the last few years where sometimes they just blow the whistle on kickoffs when the player receiving the ball in the endzone has not given himself up and/or downed the football.

 

In other words, based on what I see on occasion, I don't understand the rule.

 

I don't understand it either. It's obviously not just a dead ball as soon as it crosses the goal line, because I've seen players return it from there. But, there's other times where the player doesn't even make an attempt to catch it, they just start jogging towards the sideline. Yes, often times the ball may land out of the endzone, but there's been some that have hit maybe 8 or 9 yards deep and then bounced back towards the goal line, and they still let it go.

 

I don't know what was wrong with the previous way of fielding the ball and taking a knee. It wasn't like guys were getting blown up by doing that.

The official did the right thing, IMO. It's not his fault if other officials blow that play dead. You have to down the ball for it to be a touch back.

I don't understand it either. It's obviously not just a dead ball as soon as it crosses the goal line, because I've seen players return it from there. But, there's other times where the player doesn't even make an attempt to catch it, they just start jogging towards the sideline. Yes, often times the ball may land out of the endzone, but there's been some that have hit maybe 8 or 9 yards deep and then bounced back towards the goal line, and they still let it go.

 

I don't know what was wrong with the previous way of fielding the ball and taking a knee. It wasn't like guys were getting blown up by doing that.

 

Unless there's a part of the rule the general public isn't privy to, those instances the receiving team should be able to recover the ball. Blowing it dead is the wrong move.

Unless there's a part of the rule the general public isn't privy to, those instances the receiving team should be able to recover the ball. Blowing it dead is the wrong move.

 

My thoughts exactly. Either field it and return it, or take a knee...otherwise, if it stays in the field of play, it's a live ball.

Speaking of kickoffs, I am not a fan of what they do in college. Seeing a returner fair catch the ball around the 10 yard line or so and be able to have the ball placed at the 25 takes away the kicking team strategy of pinning the receiving team back with a high kick that does not go into the end zone. I'm all for reduced injuries in football, but this takes away from the game IMO.