Real Headline
from
Lincolnreport
“Once again, just to be clear: This is not a Patriots hit piece. We’re not drumming up some phony conspiracy theories. I personally don’t care who wins or loses; I have nothing invested in it, other than my time and energy. And I would rather spend it talking about the brilliance that this beautiful game can give us. Instead, I am here rattling off frustration over an ambiguous and frustrating set of rules. And please don’t take this as an anti-referee stance, either. We’ve established that they’re doing everything they can to make this right. They’re given a set of rules and they’re calling them to the best of their abilities way more often than not. But even technology and added manpower can’t fix something that is inherently flawed to begin with. The catch is one thing. That rule has been messed with for years. Quite another is the silly touchback rule on a fumble through the end zone. Say what you will about it, and lord knows it has been this way for as long as I am aware. (Some have said this rule was modified in the 1930s, but for the life of me, I can’t confirm that.) It’s just downright silly. You fumble the ball out of bounds half an inch from the goal line and you keep possession. But God forbid that ball trickles inside the pylon, and the other team not only gets it, but they also get a 20-yard head start the other way? That — and I’ve been saying this for decades now — is just stupid. Nothing against our brilliant football forefathers, who created a brilliant game with mostly sane rules. But this thing needed fixing a long damned time ago. So when Derek Carr extended the ball toward the goal line and clearly fumbled it through the end zone, the rule was executed properly. But it’s a dumb rule. Normally, on any other part of the field, the ball is spotted back at where the fumble occurred, assuming it ended up out of the field of play. We shouldn’t be in the business of punishing a player so harshly for trying to score a touchdown, even in a part of the field where ball security is crucial. There has to be a middle ground there. What’s the solution? I don’t know. But would a 15-yard procedure penalty be the worst result ever? You fumble it through the end zone, and it costs you a good deal of real estate. That feels far more reasonable a result than flipping possession while still protecting the sanctity of the end zone. It’s hallowed ground, sure, and entering it — especially if, gasp, you’re a receiver trying to complete the arcane act of catching a football — is rewarded. But the punishment in this case of fumbling through the end zone is just too harsh. I don’t care if the rule is going on 80 or more years old. Venerable, it is not.”
