OT- Card v. Giants

[clyde_carbon]

I seem to remember a situation in St Louis a few years ago when the Niners were losing and Cedric Wilson didn't go down making him a pariah.

Maybe Cruz realized he was surrounded (there were at least 3 Cardinals within 2 yards of him) and decided to go down and conserve time rather than fight for 1 yard, take 5 seconds off the clock and possibly fumble?

That's a possibility, but to me it looked to me like he just fell, not giving himself up.

 

[imac_21]

He clearly felt like he had given himself up. On top of that, a few steps before he went down, he was hit in the leg and never regained his balance. He could have been ruled down by contact with how sketchy the down by contact rule can be, they could have ruled that as well.

 

[tomikcon1971]

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Referee Jerome Boger's ruling that New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz had declared himself down, and therefore had not fumbled, produced confusion Sunday.

The Arizona Cardinals had not touched Cruz following his fourth-quarter reception during the Giants' go-ahead drive. Cruz went down, then flipped the ball forward as if the play had ended. A turnover in that situation might have proved pivotal to the outcome, but Boger ruled Cruz down and said the play could not be challenged.

The 2011 NFL rulebook outlines several conditions for a dead ball, including:
"When a runner declares himself down by sliding feet first on the ground. The ball is dead the instant the runner touches the ground with anything other than his hands or his feet; or ... when a runner is out of bounds, or declares himself down by falling to the ground, or kneeling, and making no effort to advance."

Cruz did seem to be declaring himself down when he flipped the ball forward, but he did not slide feet first to the ground, and there was some question as to whether he had satisfied all conditions for declaring himself down or had simply stumbled on the play.

Fox analyst Mike Pereira, former NFL officiating director, said he thought the play should have been ruled a fumble because Cruz had stumbled.

Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said his team's 31-27 defeat never should have come down to such a play. He also wasn't certain how the rule should have been applied to that situation. Cruz gained 19 yards on the play. The Giants took the lead with a 29-yard touchdown pass on the next play.

 

[Mozart'sGhost]

The former director of NFL officiating and Tony Dungy agree with me so I'm comfortable that it was a fumble. I like Dungy saying "show me one time where a guy went down head first trying to declare himself down". It just doesn't happen.

 

[imac_21]

How many times other than for touchbacks and QBs, have you seen a player declare himself down? Dungy's comment is such a red herring.

 

[Ray_Dogg]

He looked back and saw he was gonna get hit and figured fuck why risk the fumble and he laid down. He was so sure of it he chucked the ball getting up as if he expected the ruling he got. Next time he should just kneel down so there won't be so many people bitching.

 

[Mozart'sGhost]

How many times other than for touchbacks and QBs, have you seen a player declare himself down? Dungy's comment is such a red herring.

Maybe it sounded so good to me because he agreed with my position.

 

[Kinzu]

I finally watched this play today and would agree that he gave himself up. I don't see the stumble they were talking about. He broke the first tackle and then went to stutter step before seeing he had no where to go. He then just went straight down. It did not appear as if he fell down, but it did look like he went down by choice.

Even if they could challenge it I'm not sure it would have been overturned. All of the views they showed you could not clearly tell if he was touched before he let go of the ball or not. The one view that would have shown had the official in the way. It appeared one of the Cards swiped toward his helmet and then saw the ball and tackled him. Did he touch his helmet or not? I don't know.

 

[I_am_1z]

As I saw in a Cardinals thread on SB Nation:

If he gave himself up, then why didn't the referees blow the play dead?

 

[mem49er]

As I saw in a Cardinals thread on SB Nation:

If he gave himself up, then why didn't the referees blow the play dead?

Because they were surprised? It's not a typical play and refs are human...