[The fair catch, that wasn't.]

3 minutes ago, mikemac2001 said:

They would say the player was ruled down due to giving himself up and that’s not reviewable 

 

my question is why did the ref near the returner rule TD? Then change his mind?

No, he was not ruled down at the time of the play. It was ruled a touchdown on the field and it was overturned without review, which is what confuses me. I agree that it should have been a safety, and not a touchdown, but I fail to understand the lack of a review.

[The fair catch, that wasn't.]

This question may have already been asked, if so, sorry for the repetition. As the ruling on the field was called a touchdown, I am aware that all scoring plays are reviewed and this one was not. Why then didn't our head coach throw out the red challenge flag so that it had to be reviewed?

[The fair catch, that wasn't.]

13 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

The league REALLY wants teams to NOT return kicks, but they can't eliminate the play entirely the way they revised the rules in 2018. If it's fielded outside the end zone and on the field of play, so be it, but the goal is to radically reduce the return rate.

 

You seem to really want to litigate this and win on some sort of technicality, but there's a concept in law called the rule of reason, and even though it's specifically tied to antitrust law, it applies here. He had no intention of returning it, it was kicked deep in the end zone, he signaled that he wasn't going to return it, and he gave the ball to the ref. No one outside of the craziest of Buffalo fans thinks that the league screwed up here. The person who screwed up was the over-officious ref who didn't adhere to the spirit of the law. 

 

 

 

 

Again, how can anyone know what another's intention is? We are not mind readers. Thus the reason for the clear and concise rules the NFL has! This is not a court of law, it is a game with specific rules that should be followed, but obviously were not in the game.

[The fair catch, that wasn't.]

I have watched the replay of the kickoff multiple times, and have also read the NFL rulebook. As previously stated in this thread, a play ends when the player takes a knee. The official in the endzone stepped back from the ball when it was tossed his way because it was a live ball. The whistle had not been blown, so the play was not over. No where in the rule book does it state "giving yourself up". The NFL screwed up this call royally. I'm not saying the Bills would have won if the touchdown was not reversed-we will never know the answer to that.

 

But let's put this scenario in a different perspective. Let's say hypothetically  the Bills are winning by 4 and are running out the clock. Time is stopped with 10 seconds left and Houston has no timeouts left. Josh just needs to take a knee and game over-right? Instead, Josh takes the snap, stands there for a couple of seconds, then throws the ball towards an official. The official backs away from the ball, and a Houston player picks it up and runs for a TD. Now, did Josh give himself up? Not according to NFL rules. Is it common sense that he meant to? Probably, but players and officials are not mind readers which is why they use signals and motions to convey what is going on. The receiver did not convey his intent by not taking a knee, thus the ruling on the field that it was a live ball and a Buffalo TD.

[POLL: Can you drive a manual transmission?]

Yes, I learned on a new car I was driving home from the dealer in 1977, but I learned to drive on an automatic when I was 16. My age is older than dirt!