NFL Playoffs - Divisional Round game thread

What ONE team are you certain survives the Divisional Round?

  • Bengals

    Votes: 13 6.6%
  • Titans

    Votes: 20 10.2%
  • Chiefs

    Votes: 22 11.2%
  • Bills

    Votes: 5 2.5%
  • 49ers

    Votes: 10 5.1%
  • Packers

    Votes: 75 38.1%
  • Rams

    Votes: 5 2.5%
  • Buccaneers

    Votes: 47 23.9%

  • Total voters
    197
  • Poll closed .

Rheal With Cheese

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Nov 8, 2004
112
I understand it and fortunately for the LAR the ball didn’t get battered upwards. But the non-intuitive part about the rule to me if if it’s 1st and 10 Rams possession when the ball hits the ground and then the penalty occurs seconds later, why isn’t it 1st and 25. I get it’s the same when a team gets a rare 15 yarder on its kick return but can’t craft a perfect rule.

Also would love to hear discussions at the Hochuli thanksgiving table. The turkey probably pre cooks and kills itself to spare itself from the loquacious convo’s.
 

Ed Hillel

Wants to be startin somethin
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Dec 12, 2007
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Sure, but the foul didn't actually occur until the ball was dead. The hit in no way impacted Evans' ability to catch the ball - we know this because the ball was on the ground before the hit occurred.
If the ball bounced off his hands and popped 10 feet in the air out of bounds and he got hit just before it hit the ground, it’s still a penalty. The penalty is about safety of receivers, not interference.
 

Sausage in Section 17

Poker Champ
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Mar 17, 2004
2,086
Well, the whistle should blow when the ball hits the ground and there's been no penalty prior to it falling incomplete, as per the actual rules.
I'm not sure I have a dog in this fight, but if the argument is that the foul took place after the play was over, the play doesn't end until the whistle is blown. It usually blows about a second or so after the tackle or the ball hits the ground.
 

Mystic Merlin

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Sep 21, 2007
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what is shaky there is the incentives—if you’re a defender in fourth down you might as well try to kill a receiver who has a line on a catch. If you knock ball out too win. If you hit him and ball has been dropped you have 50/50 shot you only lose yards. That’s not the incentives NFL wants in that play
How many times have you seen that play happen the way it did? I think that’s just unusual
 

CFB_Rules

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Nov 29, 2016
1,603
I understand it and fortunately for the LAR the ball didn’t get battered upwards. But the non-intuitive part about the rule to me if if it’s 1st and 10 Rams possession when the ball hits the ground and then the penalty occurs seconds later, why isn’t it 1st and 25. I get it’s the same when a team gets a rare 15 yarder on its kick return but can’t craft a perfect rule.
There is an order of events. The second the ball is dead it is the “next down.” However the next line to gain is not established until the ball is ready for play.
 

Euclis20

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Aug 3, 2004
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Imaginationland
If the ball bounced off his hands and popped 10 feet in the air out of bounds and he got hit just before it hit the ground, it’s still a penalty. The penalty is about safety of receivers, not interference.
And it's still a penalty, it's just a question of whether or not Tampa gets the 1st down, too. You've gotta draw the line somewhere, I'm fine with saying that if the penalty occurs after the plays is literally over, it's enforced after the play.
 

PedroKsBambino

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Apr 17, 2003
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If the ball bounced off his hands and popped 10 feet in the air out of bounds and he got hit just before it hit the ground, it’s still a penalty. The penalty is about safety of receivers, not interference.
that’s the incentives point I raised. It’s suspect—would’nt surprise me if NFL clarified in offseason.
 

Ferm Sheller

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Mar 5, 2007
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I'm not sure I have a dog in this fight, but if the argument is that the foul took place after the play was over, the play doesn't end until the whistle is blown. It usually blows about a second or so after the tackle or the ball hits the ground.
That's true on some plays, but a pass hitting the ground before being caught is quite clearly "play over". The whistle is academic.
 

dhellers

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Oct 31, 2005
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When he was a Pat, I was totally a Tom Brady fan. But I do know Oakland fans are still pissed (and I laught at them,, remembering 1976).
Still, the NFL is a rule book bound league. It is what it is.
 

CFB_Rules

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Nov 29, 2016
1,603
No as most defensive penalties stop possession changing.

Again, I understand it’s the rule, I think it’s a bad one (defenseless receiver).
The idea is that fouls that affect the play should give the offense a new set of downs. A foul that happens when the ball is dead by definition cannot affect the play.