Reverend Conehead
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Last night I was watching an old Cowboys versus Washington game from 1975. At one point in the game, the QB who replaced an injured Billy Kilmer (I forget his name) laterals the ball to one of their players, who then drops it. He acted annoyed, as if he had dropped a normal pass, but Lee Roy Jordan knew it was a live ball, and he recovered it and ran it into the endzone. However, the refs only gave him credit for recovering the ball, but not for the TD. The announcers said he was not allowed to advance the ball. He could only recover a dropped lateral.
Does anyone know why he wasn't allowed to advance it? I thought of the Kenny Stabler rule, but I thought that only applied to the offense. With that rule, during the final two minutes of the game, if an offensive player fumbles, anyone on his team is allowed to recover it, but only the player who dropped it is allowed to advance it. I know that a dropped lateral is basically a fumble, so maybe the Stabler rule applies to the defense as well? This event did happen in the final two minutes of the game.
You would think that, if an offensive player drops a lateral, any defensive player could scoop it up and run it in for a TD.
I remember one time when Green Bay got burned by the Stabler rule. During the last two minutes of the game, Aaron Rodgers faded back into his own endzone to pass, but the ball got knocked out. His alert running back recovered it and ran out of the endzone, to about the two. I was thinking that that running back just saved his team's butt. However, it was ruled a safety because of the Stabler rule. Only Aaron Rodgers was allowed to advance that ball. The ref had ruled correctly, though I do hate that rule and wish they would get rid of it.
But is it that rule that applied in the '75 Dallas/Washington game? Or some other rule? If it's some other rule, does it still apply today?
Here's that game, if you're interested:
Does anyone know why he wasn't allowed to advance it? I thought of the Kenny Stabler rule, but I thought that only applied to the offense. With that rule, during the final two minutes of the game, if an offensive player fumbles, anyone on his team is allowed to recover it, but only the player who dropped it is allowed to advance it. I know that a dropped lateral is basically a fumble, so maybe the Stabler rule applies to the defense as well? This event did happen in the final two minutes of the game.
You would think that, if an offensive player drops a lateral, any defensive player could scoop it up and run it in for a TD.
I remember one time when Green Bay got burned by the Stabler rule. During the last two minutes of the game, Aaron Rodgers faded back into his own endzone to pass, but the ball got knocked out. His alert running back recovered it and ran out of the endzone, to about the two. I was thinking that that running back just saved his team's butt. However, it was ruled a safety because of the Stabler rule. Only Aaron Rodgers was allowed to advance that ball. The ref had ruled correctly, though I do hate that rule and wish they would get rid of it.
But is it that rule that applied in the '75 Dallas/Washington game? Or some other rule? If it's some other rule, does it still apply today?
Here's that game, if you're interested:
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