Logical Reasoning Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 On the fumble by Delhomme which was correctly called a fumble, the whistle blew when no one had possession. As a rule shouldn't the ball go to the possessor prior to the whistle. The referee made a mistake by blowing the whistle and it should have actually been a touchdown, but does anyone know why the Bills ended up with the ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Caveman Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 The rule is that if one team had a clear recovery (or would have had one) then that team will be given the ball. It's a bit of a judgement call. The league also trained the refs to not blow the whistle if there is any doubt. They screwed this up twice today, as the Browns had another fumble where the whistle was blown prematurely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincec Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 On that type of play, if it is clear who would have recovered the fumble in the opinion of the officials, they can award to possession to that team. They can't advance the ball, however. I can't quote you the verse, but hat's been the rule for a few seasons now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ofiba Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 On the fumble by Delhomme which was correctly called a fumble, the whistle blew when no one had possession. As a rule shouldn't the ball go to the possessor prior to the whistle. The referee made a mistake by blowing the whistle and it should have actually been a touchdown, but does anyone know why the Bills ended up with the ball. I think there is something in the rule about there being a clear recovery. I'm pretty sure if the ref can reasonable assume the team would have recovered the ball without a whistle, they will award the team the ball. It might be a relatively new rule due to the Chargers game a few years back where they were robbed out of a fumble because the whistle was blown. Here is an article on it. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/The-greatly-flawed-rule-on-recovering-fumbles-af?urn=nfl-207503 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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