Can a player down himself during a play?Looking back at the SF v STL game this weekend: The SF receiver running down the field in last seconds of the game could have run out of bounds but didnt. The question is, can a player with the ball, i.e. receiver, running back, etc., down himself anywhere and anytime on the field with out being touched? In sense can a player make himself down?
I think the only time you can "down" yourself is while receiving a kick and either signaling for the fair catch and making the catch, or by catching the ball in the endzone and putting your knee down. The down knee is not required for the fair catch on the playing field though. Even when the QB slides he's not technically down until touched by an opposing player.
I'm not sure about all the rules regarding this stuff though. Last year I saw a play where the running back had his foot swapped by the defensive player as the defensive player went down. The RB took 2 or 3 lurching steps before stumbling to one knee, but remained upright and then kept running. The play was whistled dead and the ball spotted where his knee touched, even though he had taken a couple steps after being hit.
Anyone know about that?
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I'm pretty sure the rule is different for QB's...I'm pretty sure they don't have to be touched to be down if they slide...kind of the same as kneeling on the ball at the end of a game. Just another quirky rule to protect the QB's.
Also, if a player's balance is thrown off by a defender, he can stumble as far as he is able, but he's still down once his knee hits...as long as it's ruled that his balance was originally thrown off by a defender.
Originally posted by Bizzle IzzleEven when the QB slides he's not technically down until touched by an opposing player.
Not true. If a QB dives head first he's live like anyone else, but if he slides feet first he's dead at the point he touches down. The rule is designed specifically so that he does not get touched by a defender (you can't hit a QB that gives himself up like that).
A ball-carrier can give himself up at any time by going down to the ground and calling a time out.
Cedric Wilson is a tard and should be cut immediately... it'll improve the Seahawks' chances in the NFC West. :)
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A player is down if a knee, elbow, or his back/chest touches the field.
I'm not sure about the head/helmet touching, but last year Stephen Davis made a great run and was twisting and turning and nearly went down, planted his hand, spun, and kept on running.
He was ruled down and that was challenged, and on replay, Madden went over what is required to be "Down"
He basically said, anything but your hands and feet touching the field makes you "down".
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In college, a player is down once he makes contact with the ground, touched by an opponent or not. Hence, a QB falling down in the pocket has sacked himself.
In the NFL, you generally have to be touched by an opponent and hten make contact with the ground to be down.
Accoding to Sean Salisbury (take with grain of salt), a player can "call down" without being touched by falling down and alerting the official nearest them. I don't know if that requires calling a TO or not.
Calling down is allowed. This happened last year in the Packers-Vikings game. Chris Walsh of the Vikes did it, and got drilled when a Packer didn't know the rule.
Originally posted by odessasteps In college, a player is down once he makes contact with the ground, touched by an opponent or not. Hence, a QB falling down in the pocket has sacked himself.
In the NFL, you generally have to be touched by an opponent and hten make contact with the ground to be down.
Accoding to Sean Salisbury (take with grain of salt), a player can "call down" without being touched by falling down and alerting the official nearest them. I don't know if that requires calling a TO or not.
on outside the lines (talking about bonehead plays (like the Wilson dude in that 49er game who didn't go down and call a TO) in football) brought up Plaxico (?) catching the ball and falling, then spiking the ball, a fumble.
The OtL dude said that in the NFL, unlike college, you have to be hit to be declaired down.
i looked at NFL.com for rules, but "downing" wasn't there.
CFL.ca on the otherhand, has a fantastic site, and the rules were easy to find, and everything was there. (so that's what a rouge is)
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