The NFL Needs To Change Its Rule About Challenges

by James Williamson on Nov 16, 2009 1:19 PM CST

Look, I’m not going to sit here and type away about how the Packers cheated, or how the refs were clearly against the Cowboys, and go boo hoo all over the screen.

I’m giving the Packers credit. That defense they prepared was amazing. I’m more angry at the lack of execution by Dallas, who should have trampled over the Packers.

However, I will say that they were lucky that this wasn’t a playoff game because the league screwed this one up.

I knew Dallas had lost when the fumble was ruled recovered by Clay Matthews. It was a horrible call, but I can forgive the referees, they are human, but what I cannot forgive is the insertion of an unfair and idiotic rule that effectively ended the Cowboys hopes of coming back.

Any reasonable and unbiased fan with a basic knowledge of football would realize that Felix Jones was obviously down by contact after he recovered the ball. He was rolled over and the ball bounced in the air and Clay Matthews barely recovered it.

However, the rules of the NFL state that teams cannot challenge the recovery of a fumble, which immediately infuriated James Williamson the writer as well as James Williamson the fan.

It is not so much that Dallas lost the game, it is so much that this rule could come and hurt another team. Dallas may have had a fighting chance with a 10-0 lead instead of a 17-0 lead, but I’m over it.

What I will not do, as a fan or as a writer, is keep quiet about a horrendous rule that obviously did not fit the Cowboys situation.

What if this had happened in the playoffs? Or in the Super Bowl? Does the NFL really need another version of the Tuck Rule controversy? Shouldn’t the NFL prevent those kinds of situations so they don’t have to break a team of players and their fans hearts?

As a fan, I could live with being beaten. What I could not live with is having a game that we should have won or had a real chance to win being taken from us because of some pencil-necked man in a zebra uniform with his stupid, destructive rule book.

Would the Cowboys have won? Maybe. Would the Cowboys have lost? Sure, they could have. But, we will never know because of a ridiculous rule that prevented a team from making a comeback. Granted, Dallas made mistakes, but does that mean the officials and their rules should join in on it?

I would rather have seen the Packers kick Dallas out of the stadium by their own power, not by the referees.

Jerry Jones stated that he understands why the rule is in place, but he still disagreed with the rule’s use in this game.

"I know why they have it because so many times there are piles and scrums so it gets really hard to see," Jones said. "But that wasn’t a play out in the middle of the field where you’d have a scrum."

That was from the Canadian Press among other sports articles, and Jerry is right. Even the referees admitted they screwed up.

The following quote is from Wade Phillips:

"They said because they ruled it a fumble all the way through, that I couldn’t challenge it even though we recovered the ball and our guy was touched and he knew the guy was down," Phillips said. "He said it’s just not, it’s something with the rule that you can’t challenge."

The bold part is very indicative of of proof. If a referee knows that a mistake has been made and a rule forbids him from correcting that mistake, then that rule needs to be changed. I’d argue the same thing if the Packers had lost that ball.

Again, I’m not being a sore loser. I’ll take the loss, but this rule needs to be changed for the sake of future games.

I don’t care if it was Dallas or Pittsburgh or even the Patriots, the referees should not be a factor in the game when they are supposed to be neutral and they should be allowed to correct their mistakes.

Anybody want to disagree?

James Williamson is also featured on http://www.nfltouchdown.com/

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Comments

speaking of stupid rules...

How come coaches aren’t penalized for throwing their challenge flags when they’re out of challenges? It should at minimum be a 5-yard delay of game penalty, if not a 15-yarder for being stupid. Not that it impacted the outcome of the game, but McCarthy’s attempt to challenge Crayton’s 4th-down catch slowed the game in a situation when the offense was trying to hurry it up. That could actually matter in some situations, so there should be a penalty against a coach that can’t keep it in his pants.

For that matter, I’d be fine with a penalty for challenging things that are “not challengeable”. The coaches are supposed to know the rules too, so there should be a penalty for throwing the red flag. I believe it was the Seahawks game where the coach tried to challenge about three un-challengeable calls, mainly to make the point that he was pissed about the officiating in general. That kind of nonsense shouldn’t be tolerated.

by greatwhitenorth on Nov 16, 2009 3:06 PM CST reply actions

yes it should have been a 15 yard penalty

According to the NFL rulebook, when you try to challenge when you have none left, it’s a 15-yarder – the refs totally blew that one

Forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life. Do not be concerned with escaping safely - lay your life before him. - Bruce Lee

by LucyFur3d on Nov 18, 2009 9:38 AM CST up reply actions

By the way...

greatwhitenorth thinks it’s funny that James Williamson is using this most excellent blog (and the 3rd-person) to promote his own site. Sorry dude, when you’ve found bloggingtheboys, there’s no need for other analysis or chatter.

by greatwhitenorth on Nov 16, 2009 3:09 PM CST reply actions

Its not my site greatwhite

And its a nice place, so leave it alone.

by James Williamson on Nov 16, 2009 5:38 PM CST up reply actions

yeah I was pretty upset

last week, when we played you guys, and Donovan was ruled short on the 4th down sneak. I don’t know what angle the ref was looking at in review, but the one on TV was clear as day, and Donovan got it easy.

With that said, it’s not like our offense was doing anything to make me believe we would have gone on to score…but hey, you never know…it’s part of the game.

"What did it feel like? That collision, I didn't feel nothing, because he was pretty much defenseless. It was like running through a cardboard box. Seriously. Cardboard box."- Sheldon Brown on his pounding of Reggie Bush in the '06 Playoffs

by jalarsen1 on Nov 16, 2009 10:52 PM CST reply actions