There will not be a "Calvin Johnson rule" next year

[Lotus]

I agree with Okie. I think we are about to see a Lions' renaissance, built by ex-Skin Mayhew and the coach we should have hired, Jim Schwartz.

[skinsfaninok]

Originally Posted by Alvin Walton

Detroit's O-Line sucks and they are talking about drafting defense this year.
Stafford may have to learn to throw with both arms.
The Lions are in a tough division, they're not doing squat next year.

They have a very good offense and a young defense, hey I'm not a lions fan or anything but You know there are teams that come out of no where, I just figure it could be them.. Plus Chicago had a miracle year that Defense is old and they stayed healthy this year..

[GhettoDogAllStars]

Common sense has to prevail sometime. Everyone who watched that play knew it was a touchdown, including the ref in the endzone who signaled TD. Too bad the rules got in the way of football.

[drew54]

That play cost me my fantasy football league playoffs. The guy who made it in my place won it all. Still ticked.

[mlmpetert]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

I think more than anything the NFL is trying to keep officials from making subjective calls as much as possible.

Glad to see the rule gone and this mindset taking place in football officiating

[MTK]

Originally Posted by mlmpetert

Glad to see the rule gone and this mindset taking place in football officiating

say what?

[Dirtbag59]

Make a damn football move people. It's not that hard.

[tryfuhl]

Ridiculous

[Monkeydad]

Here's an idea...if the players would just conduct themselves professionally and walk the ball over to the ref like Barry Sanders did, instead of dreaming up all kinds of attention-grabbing celebrations, there's no chance of the Calvin Johnson situation happening again.

Even Portis would walk the ball over to his mom in the stands...no tossing of the ball as soon as he crossed the goal line, or in DeSean Jackson's case on a few occasions, before he even reached it.

[Monkeydad]

Originally Posted by mlmpetert

Glad to see the rule gone and this mindset taking place in football officiating

I think you read it wrong. There will be no rule change.

[mlmpetert]

Damn, yeah i read it wrong. Well thats pretty rediculous.

[souperbad]

I think they made the correct decision. He DID NOT catch the ball. The rules are simple. If you are going to the ground while making a catch...the ball cannot touch the ground. He was still going down to the ground and rolling around when he used the ball to MAINTAIN HIS BALANCE and get back up. If you watch it at full speed he needed the ball to maintain his balance. If he would have waited for 1 second before he got up then it would be good.

The ground cannot cause a fumble but the ground can cause an incompletion.

When you are running, you get a touchdown as soon as you are enter the end zone with the ball...but with a catch it is different. You have to legally catch the ball first (don't bobble it, maintain control, stay in bounds and hold onto it if you go to the ground). So, when catching..you don't get a touchdown as soon as you touch the ball in the endzone. I think people get confused on that.

Really, it is a simple rule and players can abide. If you can't hold on to the ball then you probably did not have control of it.

The same thing happened in the Redskins Tampa Bay playoff game in 2005 and they took the Bucs touchdown away.

[Monkeydad]

Maybe you're getting too much protein (or beer).

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by Monkeydad

Here's an idea...if the players would just conduct themselves professionally and walk the ball over to the ref like Barry Sanders did, instead of dreaming up all kinds of attention-grabbing celebrations, there's no chance of the Calvin Johnson situation happening again.

Even Portis would walk the ball over to his mom in the stands...no tossing of the ball as soon as he crossed the goal line, or in DeSean Jackson's case on a few occasions, before he even reached it.

The guy used that hand to help himself to his feet....

[Defensewins]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

I think more than anything the NFL is trying to keep officials from making subjective calls as much as possible.

I have a real problem with this. In certain situations the refs should have the ability to interpret the rules and make the best call for each situation.
Intent plays into it. All of the protecting the QB rules comes to mind most in this scenario. When a defender hits a Qb's high and results in a hit to the head it should be called 100% of the time. I have no problem with that .
But when a QB ducks down to avoid a sack in attempt to escape and that results in the QB accidentally/incidentally getting hit on the head because the QB ducked his head, that should not be called. The defender has no control over what the QB is going to do in the micro-seconds before he is trying to tackle a moving QB. The defender and the defense should be penalized for a decision made be the QB to lower his head right in the way of the hit. QB's could pull a Kobe Bryant and draw fouls each time they get sacked just by lowering their head.
There are times where Refs have to interpret the rules and how it applies in each situation.
Anybody that saw the Calvin Johnson play live knows it was a TD.