In the NFL, at least up until now, if you aren't touched, you can get back up and keep running. It's called playing to the whistle. If they want to pussify the game even more than they already have, the game won't be as good.

I agree the rule is BS. A player should only be down once the whistle is blown, unless they're clearly already out of bounds or its a QB sliding. It was never confusing until now.

What does that have to do with players going down to avoid contact?

Going to the ground hoping you won't get hit doesn't work in Smear the Queer, and it shouldn't work in the NFL.

Think about it a little more.

Yep, the dumbass was bailed out by the refs. You know his heart was going 1000 miles an hour when he saw the Cardinals dive on the football and realized he hadn't been touched.

What's there to think about? Someone falling down when making a catch or stumbling over themselves in the back field has nothing to do with someone going to the ground to give themselves up and avoid a hard hit.

If this doesn't sum up the thread perfectly than I don't know what does.

Like the tuck rule, we're going to see every ref interpreting it this way after the shitstorm that it riled up. I don't know why the refs didn't just say they blew it and ruled him down by contact?