No matter how dumb we all think the tuck rule is, the umpire went by the book on the controversial Tony Romo “fumble” and Antonio Smith recovery in the end-zone.  My problem with the call was that the Cards should have been awarded two points for a safety.  The refs ruled it was a tuck rule, which is an incomplete pass.  Romo was not out of the tackle box and their was no receiver in the vicinity of the pass.  This all occurred in the end-zone, intentional grounding in the end-zone results in a Safety.  Here are the rules from the rule book to back my points:

The tuck rule is an exception to this rule. It applies if the quarterback brings his arm forward in a passing motion, but then changes his mind and tries to keep hold of the football rather than making a pass. In this situation, if the quarterback loses the ball while stopping his passing motion or bringing the ball back to his body, it is still considered a forward pass (and thus an incomplete pass if the ball hits the ground), even if the ball is moving backwards at the time the quarterback loses it

Intentional Grounding of Forward Pass

1. Intentional grounding of a forward pass is a foul: loss of down and 10 yards from previous spot if passer is in the field of play or loss of down at the spot of the foul if it occurs more than 10 yards behind the line or safety if passer is in his own end zone when ball is released.
2. Intentional grounding will be called when a passer, facing an imminent loss of yardage due to pressure from the defense, throws a forward pass without a realistic chance of completion.
3. Intentional grounding will not be called when a passer, while out of the pocket and facing an imminent loss of yardage, throws a pass that lands at or beyond the line of scrimmage, even if no offensive player(s) have a realistic chance to catch the ball (including if the ball lands out of bounds over the sideline or end line).

Going to try and talk to someone tomorrow, to see if I what I am saying is correct.  I do not see any reason why it isn’t.

written by bryan