Rules named after Players.

[Guttpuppy]

From some guy on a Steelers board.

the Bronko Nagurski Rule -- forward passing made legal from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage. Enacted in 1933. Prior to this rule change a player had to be 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage to throw a forward pass.

the Deacon Jones Rule -- no head-slapping. Enacted in 1977.

the Deion Sanders rule -- no excessive end zone celebrations.

the Emmitt Smith Rule -- no taking your helmet off on the field of play. Enacted in 1997.

the Eric Williams rule -- no hands to the facemask by offensive linemen.

the Fran Tarkenton rule -- a line judge was added as the sixth official. Enacted in 1965.

the Ken Stabler rule -- on fourth down or any down in the final two-minutes of play, if a player fumbles, only the fumbling player can recover and/or advance the ball. Enacted in 1979.

the Lester Hayes rule -- no "stickum" allowed. Enacted in 1981.

the Lou Groza rule -- no artificial medium to assist in the execution of a kick. Enacted in 1956.

the Mel Renfro rule -- allows a "double touch" by the offense. Enacted in 1978.

the Michael Irvin rule -- no taunting. Another rule, resulting in offensive pass interference, prohibiting WR's to push off CB's, is also often called "the Michael Irvin rule."

the Roy Williams rule -- no horse-collar tackles. Enacted in 2005

[MeShawn]

The fact that 6 out of those 12 players are Cowboys, can't be a good thing.

[mtryanks12]

I'm confused here:

the Ken Stabler rule -- on fourth down or any down in the final two-minutes of play, if a player fumbles, only the fumbling player can recover and/or advance the ball. Enacted in 1979.

This means that if you fumble in that situation, nobody else can touch the ball and everyone has to wait for you, the player who fumbled it, to pick it up??

[Pete123444]

The "tuck rule" was establish before the Raider - New England game so we can't call it the Tom Brady rule huh.

[Free Bagel]

I'm confused here:

the Ken Stabler rule -- on fourth down or any down in the final two-minutes of play, if a player fumbles, only the fumbling player can recover and/or advance the ball. Enacted in 1979.

This means that if you fumble in that situation, nobody else can touch the ball and everyone has to wait for you, the player who fumbled it, to pick it up??

No it means that no other player on the offensive team (besides the fumbling player) can advance the ball after recovering the fumble. They can still recover the fumble, they just can't pick it up and run with it, once they get it the play is dead.

This was created after I believe a Steelers/Chargers (or maybe it was Raiders) game where at the end of the game they just kept intentionally "fumbling" everytime they got tackled hoping someone on their team would pick it up and run with it.

[mtryanks12]

I'm confused here:

the Ken Stabler rule -- on fourth down or any down in the final two-minutes of play, if a player fumbles, only the fumbling player can recover and/or advance the ball. Enacted in 1979.

This means that if you fumble in that situation, nobody else can touch the ball and everyone has to wait for you, the player who fumbled it, to pick it up??

No it means that no other player on the offensive team (besides the fumbling player) can advance the ball after recovering the fumble. They can still recover the fumble, they just can't pick it up and run with it, once they get it the play is dead.

This was created after I believe a Steelers/Chargers (or maybe it was Raiders) game where at the end of the game they just kept intentionally "fumbling" everytime they got tackled hoping someone on their team would pick it up and run with it.

Oh, I see. Thanks for the explanation. That's not so bad of an idea. My little bro does that to me all the time so he wont get tackled, and it works very well.

[Guttpuppy]

Here's how it went down...

9/10/78

The Raiders were trailing the San Diego Chargers 20-14. They had the ball on the Charger 23-yard line with only 5 seconds left. Ken Stabler faded back to pass, but was caught by Woodrow Lowe before he could get rid of the ball. In desperation he intentionally fumbled it forward. The ball bounced ahead to FB Pete Banaszak at the 11-yard line. Surrounded by Chargers, Pete decided to kick the ball forward himself rather than try to cover it. It reached Dave Casper at the 5-yard line. Casper kicked it into the end zone and pounced on it, recovering the 23-yard forward fumble for the winning touchdown. The Chargers were furious but the play was legal and stood. It was quickly made illegal, though, following the season, and the rule outlawing it is often called "the Raider rule."



Also, the 5-yard chuck rule was made for Mel Blount's aggressive style of play.

[Azrael]

Are you still allowed to call a timeout to clear off a portion of the field with a machine if it is very snowy?

I thought they made a rule against altering field conditions with a machine in the middle of play.

[lmcjaho]

Are you still allowed to call a timeout to clear off a portion of the field with a machine if it is very snowy?

I thought they made a rule against altering field conditions with a machine in the middle of play.

Yeah - they outlawed that one a couple years back after the Pats game and the groundskeeper with the mini-plow...

[Mercer Boy]

Dangit, isn't there a Brett Perriman rule or something like that...deals with WR's catching balls out of bounds and hitting the ground?

Maybe it dealt with getting both hands under the ball to establish control.

I forget who the player was. It was from TB or ATL I think. Help me out guys!