Last night was another classic edition of: “Does anybody know the rules here?” moments in the NFL.
I’ve seen sandlot games as a kid, where the rules were more coherent and commonly understood.
As a casual fan myself, I recall earlier this year thinking: “Hey, could an endzone celebration result in a 48 yard extra point?” The answer was simply: “No.” Because I saw it happen, and the penalty was applied on the following kickoff.
Surely, any coach with a brain would choose to make the scoring team kick a 48-yarder for that crucial 7th point, than take a 15 yard penalty on the kickoff, that would still likely only give you a slightly better than average return to say, the 30 or 35, instead of the defacto touchback-at-the-20.
I knew this, because I CASUALLY watch the NFL, with cheetos dust on my belly. NFL veteran referees BETTER DAMN WELL KNOW THIS COLD!
For every rules nerd out there, here’s the relevant sections of every thickening rulebook.
RULE 11 – Section 3, Article 3, Item 1.
Fouls Before the Signal. If there is a foul by either team after a touchdown and before the ready-for-play signal, it is enforced on the next kickoff.
RULE 14 – Section 4, Article 9
DEAD BALL FOUL AND FOUL BETWEEN DOWNS. A Dead Ball Foul is a foul that occurs in the continuing action after a down ends, or a taunting foul that occurs at any time. The penalty for a Dead Ball Foul is enforced from the succeeding spot, and the down counts.
Basically, Triplette and crew got duped because the Lions ASKED them to enforce the penalty on the “TRY” or extra point! As they say in life: “It doesn’t hurt to ask!”
And making it all the more shameful all around, the Broncos did nothing to protest, and Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth belatedly tried to sell the viewers that they knew this was wrong all along.
In short, nobody knows the rules. Except Dean Blandino. When he’s not loaded on the Cowboys party bus.
Just remember people: you bet REAL MONEY on this league.
The NFL once toyed with the college rule, that says taunting during a live play by the offense, can NEGATE a touchdown! That actually happened a few times, like when LSU punter Brad Wing, dared to “spread his wings” on a masterful piece of Les Miles Mad-Hattery.
What Demaryius Thomas did was a complete nothingburger. When I see players front-flip into the endzone for style points, or punch a football’s lights out after hitting paydirt, or Adrian Peterson high-stepping the final five yards into the endzone, nobody calls taunting.
At this point my head hurts, and I’m a little bit lost. So just to recap….
Fire Jeff Triplette.
As you were.
glad you brought up that Demarius Thomas taunting call. I was like how is that taunting? Because he turned around and looked back at the field? Yet every week a guy hit’s pay dirt get his jive on for 3 minutes and notta flag to be seen. These guys go thru a choreographed dance after a TD that would make Beyoncé proud and never a flag and I’m fine with that but can we get a little consistency please?
Officiating overall is abysmal. Every week my team gets screwed by a call and its getting old. I nearly turned off the game yesterday after yet another lousy call. Once that happens then its a short trip to dropping The Sunday Ticket and then, the next thing you know its a Monday in February and you find yourself at work saying, “Nah, I just wasn’t into watching the Super Bowl last night.”
All of you choads complaining about the ref (you included Czabe) were all up in arms about the replacement refs and how abysmal they were. Well, you got what you wanted – the “real” refs are back. Welcome to the reality that the real refs are just as bad if not WORSE than the replacement refs were (replacement refs didn’t call so many ticky-tack penalties on the pass defense).