Posted on 09/23/2012 12:39:59 PM PDT by murron
I'm watching the Saints-Chiefs game on TV, and a Chiefs player, who caught the ball, came down and dropped the ball going down. The player was injured as he came down. A Saints player picked it up and ran it into the endzone. Unfortunately for the Saints, the official blew the whistle before he got into the end zone so the TD didn't count. But there was a challenge as to whether it was a fumble or not.
Dan Dierforf, one of the announcers, kept saying that the Chiefs player "gave himself up", so therefore it shouldn't be ruled a fumble. He must have said it over and over again. The final ruling was that it was indeed a fumble and it was ruled the Saints ball.
But has anyone ever heard of a player giving himself up because he is injured and letting the football loose so the other team shouldn't pick it up?
Inquiring minds want to know.
I believe a player can give himself up. I think when it is done, it has to be VERY obvious what he is doing, like when a QB does it at the end of a game, when he drops to a knee. I think a player can do the same thing, regardless where he is on the field, but if it’s not very obvious, it won’t be called.
Ruled a fumble.
Was odd. Injured player. Could he have tossed the ball out of bounds?
Ray Lewis did it once, right?
Rule exists. For example. 50 seconds to go, player catches a pass for a first down and hits the deck. He can get up and flip the ball to the official even if he has not been touched. This allows the next play to set up without letting the defense wind the clock down by not touching the player for several seconds.
More common among French players.
An official shall declare dead ball and the down ended:
(a) when a runner is out of bounds or declares himself down by falling to the ground and makes no effort to advance.
Subject to some interpretation, obviously, but most officials would require that a player actively go to the ground in order to "declare" himself down. Falling down by accident or coming off a hit don't really cut it.
Dan Dierdorf: "often wrong, but never in doubt."
Only time I have heard of a football player giving himself up was for outstanding warrants.
The play is not over until the whistle blows.
It sure looks as if the Saints have given themselves up in that game.
I assume you refer to when they beat the crap out of their girlfriends, caught with a kilo of coke in their back pocket, or possess fighting pit bulls?
Only if he was unconscious did he let go before the whistle.
Like Earl Campbell would ever give himself up.
(and this is from a Chiefs fan)
That sounds like a college rule, not NFL.
Are these still replacement refs?.....
The only times I have ever heard of NFL players giving themselves up were OJ and the guy driving him in the slow motion chase in the white SUV and those guys from Dallas who were wanted by the police.
I hear it happens in prison sometimes.
These officials in the Eagles-Cards game are awful.
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