tandy miller said:
VOLvo said:
Ulrich said:
HoustonAg2106 said:
Ulrich said:
VOLvo said:
A player is down, not when they stumble and drag their foot or appear to be going down, they're down when the knee, butt, elbow, etc hit the ground.
On a normal play, not on a slide. The rule is that the player is down when he begins a feet first slide, not on contact with the ground. This misunderstanding is why fans are often unhappy with the spot on slides.
He is spotted down where he began the slide, but the refs never blow the whistle until he is actually sliding on the ground (butt down).
That's not how the rule is written. Like you said, officials haven't had to deal with this before so it's understandable why they made the mistake, but it was still a mistake.
I can agree the officials need to address the rule for clarity, but the slide issue itself may need to come with a hand raise, like a fair catch, to avoid penalty. No fair catch signal, you get leveled legally. No slide hand wave, you're a runner.
I like this
I want to like this, but the mechanics wouldn't work great. I think the two ways to 'fix' this without scrapping the protection rule are:
1. Commit to fast whistles at the slightest hint of a slide
2. Keep everything legal until the player is clearly down. Same rules as elsewhere. If you want to avoid taking a hit - you'd better drop to the deck early & be down before the defender gets there. Ya know - football rules.
