About That Snap "Rule"
I'd love for someone to be able to explain why yesterday's bad snap play was a false start against the Bears, but this play last year by the New Orleans Saints was a touchdown:
"McAllister brought the Saints back to within one score by scooping up a bad snap and running it in from four yards out to make it 38-31 with 8:05 left in the game. Saints center Jeff Faine's snap rolled through the backfield to the single-set back McAllister, who alertly picked it up and ran it in."
You can watch it yourself here on NFL.com. The first viewing of the play comes at about the 2:24 mark of that video. Then there's a replay from behind that gives an even better angle. It's just like the Bears play, in that the ball does not go through the quarterback's legs, but rather shoots off to his left.
And here's the strange thing -- it doesn't look like it was an accident. After the snap, Brees drops back as happy as could be, pretending he's going to throw the ball, while Deuce McAllister immediately runs to the ball, scoops it up and scores.
Why did the New Orleans Saints have a play in their playbook that was illegal? Why was that play not stopped and called a false start?
Why does the NFL still refuse to make public its actual rulebook on its website, rather than this worthless "digest of rules"?
Even if it is the correct rule, it's still totally stupid. If a team can't execute a snap, they should be penalized more than five yards and replay the down. They don't even have to cover the ball. How does that make sense?
Posted by: whoismariowilliams | October 23, 2007 at 08:28 AM