Yeah, but the reason the rule was put in place was to prevent desperation fake fumbling to advance the ball at the end of the half/game. It was a direct result of the Oakland Raiders "Immaculate Deception" play back in the 70s--Ken Stabler 'fumbled' the ball to avoid being sacked. No Raider player was able to pick up the ball and run with it (as they had Chargers players hanging all over them trying to recover the ball), so they batted the ball forward until it was in the end zone, and then fell on it.

Originally Posted by: macbob 

yeah it's supposed to stop someone from fumbling on purpose but there should be a way to account for the scenario like what happened today. Like letting them at least be able to advance it to the spot where the fumble happened

Originally Posted by: steveishere 

The Packers should not have found themselves in that position in the first place. The rule is fine, the Packers play is not.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

I didn't learn anything today. I've known we have trouble and will always have trouble with strong defensive teams that get in your face with intimidation. Unfortunately there will be three of these teams in the NFC playoffs: Seattle, Detroit, and Arizona. We can't avoid all of them.

Originally Posted by: DakotaT 

Well hell that wasn't what anyone wanted today.

Packers lose.
Detroit wins
Seattle wins

Can't dwell on it to long, Packers have to get ready to go to Tampa Bay.

Win the last 2...12-4 worst that The Packers could be is 2nd seed, still plenty of football to go.

Not the path I wanted to see, but it is what it is.

Gotta give credit to Bills coaches, they put together a great plan.

The players executed that plan to the tee!!!

Originally Posted by: buckeyepackfan 

yeah it's supposed to stop someone from fumbling on purpose but there should be a way to account for the scenario like what happened today. Like letting them at least be able to advance it to the spot where the fumble happened

Originally Posted by: steveishere 

And then you get gray area judgment calls by the referee's an that is precisely what the NFL needs to avoid.

The Packers should not have found themselves in that position in the first place. The rule is fine, the Packers play is not.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

I don't even care about today Lacy possibly didn't even get the ball out so it wouldn't have mattered anyway. How is it a gray area if there is a fumble to not blow the play dead until the offensive player advances it past the point where the fumble happened? Seems pretty simple to me. If it's too difficult to determine where the fumble happened then make it the original LOS.

The spirit of the rule is to keep an offensive player from fumbling on purpose to advance the ball in an end of game situation. What happened today is not in that spirit. It's simply a dumb rule.

Originally Posted by: steveishere