K-9

Obviously not. He signaled TD Bills, after all.

He would be assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty. You can’t fake a fair catch.

Spoken like a tough guy? How tough do you have to be to accept the fact that you can’t change a ref’s call and that 65 other plays on both sides of the ball during the course of a contest have a bearing on the outcome as well? How tough do you have to be to face disappointment head on? How tough do you have to be to realize that incessant whining about officials is nothing more than a loser’s lament?

I agree.

No doubt it was bizarre and I give the ref credit for calling the TD in the first place as other refs may not have. But I think they got it right in the end. Sorry if I’m not as outraged as some others, but it was one of those one in a million occurrences that deserved the scrutiny it received by the group of officials who discussed it. Good luck with the lawsuit. This guy is available:

And yet it’s been accepted in practice, if not specifically defined in the rule book, by refs league wide. Indeed, I’ve seen numerous instances where the ref blew the whistle the moment the ball landed after the returner gave the safe signal in the endzone.

Again, I agree. And I would look for the rule to be further clarified that once the safe signal is given, the play is dead.

Right. Like I said, the return man did one of two things right in signaling no return. I bet he will never touch the ball again after doing so.

No. Although most of it is common sense, anyway. And I certainly won’t defend the worst officials in all of sports. But I can in this one instance. Again, we are discusing a VERY specific play here, whereby the return man CLEARLY signaled he was not attempting a return. Period.

With regard to a very specific play that only occurs in a very specific area, it doesn’t require much deep,though, I’m debating with a 10 year old. Grow up. Off with you now.

Its also a signal that the returner has no intention of attempting a return. Or are you suggesting that his blockers and his blockers only really know the secret message behind the spread arms? That everyone in the stands, all the refs, and the TV viewing audience, don’t know what that spread armed signal means? Common sense.

Question it all you want, but there’s really not much to think through here. You can continue your “slippery slope” nightmare scenario, but I don’t think it’s warranted.

It’s also a signal that he has no intention of returning the kick. And I don’t have to argue it, the refs did that themselves.

In the endzone, a returner may signal his intent not to return by spreading his arms. He satisfied that entirely. He indeed let the ball land in the endzone. His mistake was picking it up and tossing it to the ref before the play was whistled dead. But it can be argued that his signal superseded subsequent action. And let’s not trot out a slippery slope argument here. We are talking a very specific action that takes place, ON kickoffs into the ENDZONE only.

Those plays all occurred within the field of play for starters. No rules interpretation dictated the Jackson play, he clearly lost possession within the field of play. While there was nothing to stop the refs from consulting about the Ford penalty, they chose not to. The Houston return man spread his arms indicating no intent to return. That was the correct thing to do and we see it on virtually EVERY kickoff EVERY week. That was the half right aspect. His mistake was that he chose to retrieve the ball and made a half hearted toss to the ref, who let it go, as he should have. That was the half wrong aspect. Technically, you are not allowed to attempt a return after signaling a fair catch and you are assessed an unsportsmanlike like penalty when you do. But did the returner actually attempt a run back? No. INTENT was made clear PREVIOUSLY, when he spread his arms in the universal signal to NOT attempt a run back.

That only applies to fair catches made in the field of play, not the endzone. Correct.

Yep. Totally blown non call. Like Cam, I wonder if there’s a bias against Josh because he’s a bigger QB and he isn’t afforded extra protection. I get he’s a running back at that point, but I have to wonder if a smaller QB like Jackson has the ref’s eye on plays like that.

I see the butt hurt brigade is out in full force today. Here’s a clue for them: no game in the history of the NFL has ever been won or lost on one play. Not. One. Now that may be too big a concept for the third graders who watch the games and get all passed off when calls go against them, but it’s true none the less.

Please, by all means, list for me the three ways a KO returner has to give himself up in his own endzone. Common sense comes into play whether you like it or not. In all walks of life. Things must be beautiful in your black and white world.

Fair catching is all about intent. Read the Fing rule before spouting off on how dumb people are.

Did the kick returner give himself up or not? Did he make a concerted effort to return the kick or not? I find your comparisons to the Jackson, Burress, and Ford plays lacking. For several reasons.

So, common sense has no place in rules interpretation? Can’t disagree more. The returner gave himself up and that was obvious, regardless of the technicality involved. NFL refs get so much wrong during the course of a season and it’s by far the worst officiated sport in the world, but every once in a while they get it right.

I hope he stays in Rochester the remainder of the year. If he comes back up, I’m gonna call for JBott’s immediate firing.

Because common sense needed to prevail in that situation. Yes, the Houston player only did one of the two acts required to indicate his intentions and yes, technically the ref made the right call initially. But the returner made NO attempt to catch and return the ball. It was CLEAR what his intention was, which is why common sense needed to prevail. They got it right through consultation. My barometer has always been, how would I feel if they called it against my team. And I would have been apoplectic if that call were made against us.

Speaking of Mittelstadt, here’s his second goal in as many games. Like the one above, this shows a level of confidence we haven’t seen here. Nice.