I am part of the minority of fans who have no problem with the rule. Hold onto the damn ball and quit bitching already. The rule is designed to avoid getting into a gray area with players who lose possession of the ball as they go down in the end zone, and it's also designed to avoid what the league considers to be "cheap" fumbles on other parts of the field. There is still a gray area with this rule, but I think it's a smaller gray area and it has helped eliminate cheap fumbles. That's why I'm okay with it.
Originally Posted by: Greg C.
I am not okay with it, though I haven’t considered the “cheap fumbles” aspect of the rule, which makes sense.
My problem with saying “hold onto the damn ball” is that this rule doesn’t seem to jive with other rules dictating touchdowns. I made this point in gameday chat and people seemed to like it, so I’ll post it here too:
Say the Packers are on the 4 yard line, ready to score, and on second down McCarthy calls pass play. Rodgers runs a boot leg to the right but no one is is open. Rodgers streaks toward the pylon and crosses the plane. Would he even need to touch the endzone with his foot as long as the ball crosses the plane? I don’t think he would. Correct me if I’m wrong, but he could literally step from the regular field of play, across the plane, and out of bounds and it would be ruled a TD. Am I wrong? Keep in mind, Finley caught the ball, got both feet down, and landed on his knee, hip, ass, and forearms and it was ruled an incompletion.
Another scenario puts the Packers on the 1 yard line. Full back dive to Kuhn. The defense plugs the hole well, but Kuhn is a fucking beast and gets the entire ball over the plane, immediately dropping it. Dumbass Vikings players pick up the ball thinking it’s a fumble, but they’re sad to see that the refs have signaled touch down. The crowd was already yelling Kuhn before the play started. No part of his body touches the endzone, but the ball broke the plane and even though he dropped it it’s still a TD.
Remember the Raji interception and TD last season? Similar situation.
Obviously these are running situations, but it just seems inconsistent. When a runner scores a TD the ball only needs to be possessed across the plane for a fraction of a second, no part of the possessing player’s body even needs to be across the plane. But when Finley (or whoever) catches a ball in the endzone he must maintain possession for several seconds while fighting off a defender and falling to the ground? I dunno, maybe this whole post just proves the point that the receiving is completely different than running and the rule should stand. Maybe the passing game in the NFL doesn’t need any more support than it already has. But it *feels* totally wrong to me because of the inconsistency compared to other touch downs I’ve described above.