Jauronimo

How the f@#$ did you open a dispensary only adhering to legal statute that preceded the word "and"? Serious question. Since when can the second half of a sentence be disregarded? Is that common sense as well?

Common sense suggests the Texans should be called for zero penalties during live ball in 72 minutes of football.

No, they are saying multiple kick returners have acted like Carter this year with impunity. As in caught the ball but failed to signal for a fair catch, failed to take a knee, and then tossed the ball to the referee.....now heres the important part.....the referee then INAPPROPRIATELY caught the ball and INCORRECTLY blew the play dead in all of those instances. THAT is the difference. The very BEST defense I have seen of the travesty we are discussing is that it has been called INCORRECTLY all year and therefore the referee was more correct in being consistently with a piss poor application of established rules. And for reasons inexplicable to me, that resonates with a lot of football fans.

I take no consolation in a rule change as soon as the super bowl is over. I have zero doubt they will immediately shore up the kickoff rule and blindside block rule and we will still be looking for our first playoff win in 26 years. Why have a rule book if its so obviously based in silliness that referees can disregard written regulations and hand down common sense rulings after 2 minutes of deliberation? That officiating crew undermined the integrity of the game. They went wildly off the reservation and the precedent set is irresponsible at best. I must be a moron because I'm one of the 3 crazy #######s who cares that officials now have the power to disregard rules and make calls based on what they think was supposed to happen. Nothing can go wrong there. Its not like officials have a problem consistently and appropriately administering the rules they actually choose to observe. Nope, nothing to see here.

bump bump bump CBS Sports says it has happened multiple times this year. I have no reason to doubt it. Still doesn't matter much to me since I'm not interested in how many times it was called incorrectly before Saturday. I'm more interested in what happened on Saturday between the time a semi-correct call was made on the field at the time of the play and everything that happened afterward which abandoned established protocol and gave referees the power to interject "common sense" which apparently is contrary to known rules. Makes you think about the constitution of the competition committee and their relationship with the officials. Seems contentious at best.

Nailed it. His intentions were clear. I think we can all agree 100% on that point. I'm surprised so few of us see eye to eye on the precedent set. If the dude cannot abide (and the dude should abide since by definition, the dude abides) by 3 mother effing rules which govern returns then I think perhaps he is not worth paying millions for his handful of plays per game.

For the record, I agree with Ye Ole 500%. Had the return man been ruled down initially, its doubtful I would have noticed. But I think its a travesty that the official made the call on the field of a live ball and abandoned the ruling under the pressure of the situation and then deemed it as "gave himself up". I respect K-9 and Alphadawg and their contributions to this fine board which dwarf my own, but I respectfully disagree with their opinions on this matter which may have been lost in my last post.

It does. And common sense suggests abandoning the rule book and the events that transpired on the field in favor of ruling on intent is dangerous precedent. In order to "give himself up" the returner has to let the ball land in the endzone, signal fair catch, or take a knee. He did not satisfy any of these criteria. I don't think 3 rules is that onerous but some disagree. The officials shrank in the moment and did not have the balls to stick with the correct call. Whether the rule is good or not is a separate discussion.

I can't wait to officiate a game. I'm hoping next year, New England v Buffalo. Brady 5 step drop, clean pocket, all day to pass and he gives himself up, loss of 8 on the play. Neal free release, he gets behind the secondary, its caught, theres nothing but daylight AND he gives himself up 40 yards shy of the endzone. Bills punting, Edelman back to return, hes breaks a tackle hes free, hes going to score and NOOOO its been called back, he gave himself up at the spot of the catch. Allen on the QB keeper, and theres a gust of wind, the BALL IS OUT, the ball is out, and New England says they have the ball!!! The officials are huddling and it turns out Allen gave himself up nano-seconds before the fumble. Wow, great judgement by the officials. Top notch common sense. New England down by 1, 2 seconds on the clock and they're attempting the game winning field goal and OH the holder gave himself up, turnover on downs. Buffalo Wins!!

When you come into a thread with no knowledge of relevant rules, understanding of the events, declare it a non-issue, and tell us all that we're crazy idiots for even discussing the topic your odds of a swift rebuke increase dramatically. Sometime down the road when a huge return gets called back because a ref circumvented the rule book in favor of "common sense" to determine a runner gave himself prior to the return I expect to see an equally fervent stand on your part in defense of a refs right to arbitrary bull####. There are rules for a reason. I don't see how anyone who follows the game wouldn't be alarmed by the precedent just set.

Here is what 50 people are all trying to explain to you. The "Safe" signal is not recognized as "giving himself up". He still could have taken off and returned that ball for 6 at any moment. And the CORRECT ruling on the field in that event would have been a touchdown. The officiating crew simply folded under the pressure of making such a meaningful call in a playoff game. Likely because similarly sloppy BS was let go during the year but the reasons are irrelevant. They abandoned the rule book and review protocol and opened up a pandora's box of "common sense". But you and others can sleep soundly knowing we don't have the pressure of playing next Sunday due to "technicalities" like a literal interpretation of the rule book.

Except, the no return sign is only a signal to his own players and not recognized by any NFL rules as "giving yourself up". There is no judgement on whether the return man met any of the criteria to give himself up, which has been explained to you about a dozen times. The refs have no power to suggest a player meant to call a fair catch, or meant to take a knee, or meant to not field the kick off at all. None. Zero. Zilch. Refs are required to make judgement on things that actually happened in the field of play. Instead, they ruled a player meant to give himself up DESPITE the glaringly obvious fact that Carter took none of the actions which constitute giving oneself up per NFL rules. Carter did NOT signal a fair catch, he did NOT take a knee, and he did NOT decide to let the ball land in the end zone. Yet the referee determined he "gave himself up" all the same and thats good enough for you. What is there to argue? You are embarrassing yourself, but something tells me you're only getting started.

Which is what I alluded to earlier. Trying to leave some breadcrumbs for alphadawg but he'd rather eat his own excrement today.

He clearly and without question took none of the actions that constitute "giving himself up" per NFL rules. And no, the refs have ZERO ability to change the rule book mid game. ZERO. At least they didn't until Saturday.

How is picking up a flag analogous to overturning a scoring play? Especially given that ALL SCORING PLAYS ARE AUTOMATICALLY REVIEWED BY THE HEAD OF OFFICIATING IN NEW YORK! Why not let it go to review? Instead, they abandoned protocol and the rule book. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/bizarre-bills-kickoff-touchdown-overturned-after-officials-rule-the-returner-gave-himself-up/ Yes you absolutely need a ton of explanation and you're going to get it. Giving yourself up is governed by f@#$ing rules, imagine that. Throwing the ball near a ref does not constitute giving oneself up any more than screaming "I declare bankruptcy!" is recognized by the IRS. So how can you give yourself up?? CAll a fair catch, take a knee, don't field the kick. Now which one of those did Carter elect?? I'll wait.

You can say its not a TD 100 more times but that's not an argument and you have yet to offer one. The funny part is that you're probably right but not for anything even resembling a valid reason. The difference between the NCAA rules and NFL rules has already been discussed, and guess what, you're incorrect again. Perhaps you should go back and read the first 16 pages and save yourself some face. I'll ask again, when did the runner give himself up according to league rules?

It was so clear there was a 5 minute conference on the field. Its so clear that no one can show me how or where the runner "gave himself up" in accordance with known rules. I guess every call is clear by virtue of the final decision, right? Your reasoning is impeccable. Good luck. When and how did he give himself up? You know there are.....wait for it.....rules about how a player can and does give himself up. Should be easy to spot, right? Let me save the hamster a few spins around the old cranium. In the end, your argument and a few others boil down to this: returners have been violating the rules all year with impunity and you're uncomfortable with the outcome of the enforcement of the rule.

And to answer everyone's question: yes. Resoundingly, yes. A thousand times YES!!! That is EXACTLY how I want to win that game. I yearn for the day when a complete miscarriage of officiating results in a historic win for a Buffalo franchise. I dream of the day when I can sit down some stranger's bewildered and frightened children and tell them all about the day the Buffalo Bills won a super bowl due to sheer officiating incompetence.

I think we should retroactively go back and overturn every play where a rookie pass catcher or runner forgot that theres a difference between NCAA and NFL rules, assumed he was down and voluntarily left a live ball in the field of play. These guys who make millions to play a game shouldn't be expected to understand the fundamental rules of the game and adhere to them. Particularly, the specialists who have one f@#$%ing job. Its the responsibility of the officials to make sure they can't affect the outcome of the game with their blithe indifference for the rules and general stupidity. Andre Roberts wasted so much energy kneeling this year. Its no wonder our return game sucked.

It wasn't clear to the back judge. You know, the guy who gets paid hefty sums a year to assess these things. What did you see that constitutes that he clearly "gave himself up"?

Picking up a flag is a far cry from overturning a scoring play. With a scoring play there's no reason to even have a conference because all scores are AUTOMATICALLY REVIEWED!!!!

Hes OBVIOUSLY down and gave himself up until the day someone changes their mind. They see the coverage is dogging it down the field because the kick was 7 yards deep in the end zone, and what person in their right mind wouldn't down it 7 yards deep, and after two steps and a balk toward the ref they run it out for a big play...Only to have it called back of course because the ref assumed that the returner intended to take a knee. Then you have controversy and we need to discuss a mechanism by which to determine when a player is indeed giving themselves up and when they are an eligible runner. Wait, what? We already have that exact f@#$ing system for that exact f@#$oing reason?!?!?! WELL I'LL BE F@#$ED!!!

I don't know what to think of a person who still maintains that the correct ruling on the field should be based on the officials whim and your own personal level of comfort with winning or losing based on the outcome.

This is a pattern for Wade. He comes into town, immediately turns some bottom feeding unit into a top ranked defense in the league and 2 or 3 years later the defense is mediocre and hes on to another opportunity.

Thats the longest cop out I have seen in a while. ESPN commentators and multiple other media members know that the league dropped the ball here. Had they kept the ruling on the field it would have automatically been reviewed in NYC to get the call correct. How and why was the back judge overruled? Why was protocol abandoned? This many pages in you're just willfully ignorant.