Colts v Bucs?

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Wow I feel bad falling asleep before that one was done? What happened?

[Spriggan]

An amazing comeback.  In the last four minutes colts came back from 21 points behind the bucks and won with a field goal in OT.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Never go to sleep before the 4th quarter!

[House of Mustard]

Yeah - but it was a bunch of crap.  On the first field goal atempt (from something short like 31 yards) Indy missed, but the ref called unsportsmanlike conduct on Tampa defense, citing 'leaping'.  The 'leaping' rule was made so that no one can jump on someone else's shoulders.  The rules states that you cannot run and jump and come down on top of a teammate, while attempting to block a field goal.  What happened last night was that one of the bucs ran and jumped, to block it, and another player bumped into him so he fell over.

Anyway, they called leaping and replayed the down, and Indy kicked it in and won.  Stupid stupid stupid.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

hmmm well that one will be argued for years to come then....

[Spriggan]

The question isn't did he land on any of his teammates, which he hit about 4 (am watching it on ESPN), but weither it was a standing jump or not.  The rule for leaping is you cannot run, jump and land on someone.  Which it looks like he did, even if it was a foot or two.  The player in question (who's name I don't have) didn't land on anyone, more his teammates fell in on him during the skermish.  So it's all up to interpertaion of the rule.

[House of Mustard]

What bugs me more is not whether he landed on anybody, but whether he was leaping for the reason the leaping rule was made.  (<--- That's a poor sentence).  He was obviously not trying to jump on top of anybody to block the ball better, which is the reason that there is a rule against leaping.  So, while technically he may have run, jumped, and landed on somebody, he wasn't doing anything wrong.

[House of Mustard]

Okay, I've changed my mind somewhat.  After further investigation, it turns out that the leaping rule was not instituted just to stop rugby-type actions of jumping up on other players.  It was, instead, brought about by the Players Association because linemen were worried about the medical hazard of having an over-zealous secondary step on their backs.  Since this was brought about by the players rather than the NFL rules people, I guess I can't really complain about the call.