Down by Contact

it's probably been discussed but i didn't see it.

can someone explain that rule and how it applied to the kickoff return when the Bills fumbled (or rather were ruled to be down by contact)

 

Dude fumbled the ball before his knee was down. Mr. Official whistled the play dead, and said that the return man's knee was down before the fumble.

You cannot challenge a fumble. You can challenge a non-fumble, but not a fumble:

Let's say Deshaun Foster picks up 5 yards, ball squirts out, but the official blows the whistle, thinking that Foster's knee was down (though it was not). In this case, you cannot challenge.

Now, say Foster's knee actually did hit the turf before the ball came out, but the official never blows the whistle and the play is deemed a fumble. Carolina could then challege the play, in an attempt to retain possession.

In short, we got screwed by a sub-standard review system.

 

I understand the reason for the rule but don't like it anyway. You don't want people to continue playing after a whistle for any reason. If you let a play like that be challenged that is exactly what you will get.

 

A team should be aloud to challenge that call. I know they could have challenged one aspect of it, but the announcer said it wouldnt have resulted in our ball. I tend to like replay, but some of the rules are a bit retarded. If a bad call was made it should be able to be reversed otherwise whats the point.

 

It depends on when the play was blown dead. On that particular play, I don't believe it was blown dead until after the Panthers recovered the fumble, thus the play would have been reviewable even though the ref said he was down by contact.
If the play was blown dead before the Panthers recovered, than no, it is not reviewable.

 

fixed

 

That sums it all up right there. We got screwed because the play wasn't reviewable. If I've learned anything this year in football, it's that the NCAA has already got twice the replay system that the NFL has.

Why do teams get penalized because the refs blew a call? That's the MAIN concern I have.

The other main concern, plays like that Bills fumble. A ref blows his whistle too early which causes a play to be unreviewable. That in turns leads to a ref blowing his whistle too late and someone getting hurt. This replay system is fucked and the NFL isn't going to fix it until it's paying customers bitch.

That play almost cost us the game. Because a ref blew the whistle/ruled him down too early. Losing that game could have been the difference in the playoffs. The playoffs could be the difference in someone having a job.

Fix it NFL. It's easy. Have any play other than pass interference reviewable under the same system. PI looks different under slow speeds so that's understandable how it's a bang bang type play. Don't take a challenge away when a coach calls you on your fuckup. And extend the "dead" period from the last two min to the last five where reviews come from the booth.

It's not so broken it can't be fixed, but the situation it is in now is laughable. How is it right that the ref screws your team twice, and you get penalized for it? Coaches shouldn't have to ration challenges like they do TOs. Not if the coaches turn out to be right.



But Bill Belichick can throw a flag just because another team is lining up for two. What a jackass. True colors Bill, you showed them on that play.

 

The official ruled him down on the play. I don't know when the whistle blew, but from my understanding it was clear immediately to me that we wouldn't be able to challenge. Good job NFL

 

Sounds like it's somewhat meant to protect the entity with prior posession. You can also see that in a liberal definition of what constitutes a catch when applied to a situation where the ball comes out soon after. It's not that often a guy catches the ball, gets two feet down, loses the ball, and it's ruled a fumble.

 

That's because he didn't make a bullshit "football move" before coughing up the ball. Catch + two feet + ball on the ground = fumble...PERIOD.
The rules are designed to allow for more points because the NFL is catering to the Lehman-fan who doesn't really appreciate some of the more gratifying parts of the game.