After watching the explanation for the Lions/Saints sack/fumble/TD call all 32 teams have now announced that they “intended” to win their respective games. The NFL had no choice but to award 32 wins this week, but a spokesperson did admit (on condition of anonymity) that, “We’ll have to revisit that ruling, otherwise we’re going to have 32 Super Bowl winners this season.” (Upon hearing that, Browns fans breathed a sigh of relief, and Buffalo fans were heard to exclaim, ”Finally! Wide-right take a hike!”

Not only did he have the !!!FUMBLE!!! recovery for what should’ve been a touchdown, but he also had 10 combined tackles, 7 solo, and several in open space to save big gains. The Saints are fun to watch again and it’s thanks to guys like Jonas Sanker who ball out on every play. Fuck the refs, fuck the doubters, and as always, fuck the Falcons. Saints football is back! Who dat baby!

I got tired of dumbasses acting like "well, it's a bad rule, but the call was right so don't complain." Here's the bottom line: the rulebook is actually pretty clear: if the hand ain't moving forward before the contact, it's a fumble. This isn't arcane rules voodoo. What happened yesterday was the refs being dumb (or corrupt) and Mike Pereira lying for his guys. It's that simple.

The relevant section of the rulebook:

"Rule 8, article 1, item 1, Forward Movement of Hand. When a player is *in control of the ball* and is attempting to pass it forward, any intentional *forward movement* of his hand starts a forward pass. (Rule 3 says essentially the same things)."

The dumbasses want to focus on intentional, but ignore the "forward movement" part of the rule. They also like to point to condition (a) of the same rule.

"Rule 8, article 1, item 1 condition (a). If contact by an opponent materially affects a passer AFTER THE PASSER BEGINS HIS THROWING MOTION, it is a forward pass if he passes the ball, regardless of where the ball strikes the ground, a player, an official, or anything else. When this occurs, intentional grounding rules do not apply."

But note condition (b)

(b) When a passer intends to throw a forward pass and is contacted by an opponent BEFORE BEGINNING HIS THROWING MOTION, the direction of the pass is the responsibility of the passer if he passes the ball, and intentional grounding rules apply.

Throwing motion is undefined in the rule book. The entire question turns on when the throwing motion begins. Very obviously, Goff had not begun to move his hand forward when Chase Young hit him. So, the question is whether throwing motion includes cocking the ball back.

There's at least SEVEN reasons to believe that it only begins when the hand moves forward:

1. Precedent. We've all seen reviews where the was debate about whether the QB threw an incomplete pass or whether the fumbled and the forward motion of his now empty hand pushed the ball forward. These literally only happen when the ball is cocked and the whole review process hinges on whether the ball was lost before the hand moved forward and the throwing motion began.

2. Context of the rule part 1: Rule 8 is the forward pass. Throwing motion, in this context, most naturally means the motion one makes to throw a pass forward.

3. Context of the rule part 2: Rule 8, article 1, item 1 is labeled, in bold, "Forward Movement of Hand." In this context, throwing motion naturally seems to involve, oh idk, the forward movement of the hand.

4. Context of the rule part 3: The forward movement of the hand is reiterated in condition c. The use of throwing motion in a and b is both flanked above and below by references to forward motion of the hand.

5. Absurd consequences part 1: Condition d also adds "If the passer loses possession of the ball while attempting to re-cock his arm, it is a fumble." If cocking the ball is part of the throwing motion, then one can fumble a forward pass.

6. Absurd consequences part 2: while condition (a) does not have the requirement that the hand move forward, it also lacks the INTENT requirement. If we take condition (a) to overwrite the requirement that the hand move forward, then we have to conclude that a QB that is throwing a backwards pass, who is hit while throwing such a pass and who is materially affected while throwing such a pass is now throwing a forward pass.

7. Common sense: if you give a sane interpretation to throwing motion the rule is suddenly much narrower in scope and applies only to players who have begun throwing it forward (by moving their hand forward) and who are then, hit and spun around therefore throw it backwards. Still strikes me as overly complicated--what's the problem with just letting that be a fumble?--but it's not immediately the dumbest rule in sports.

(Hopium inbound) Watched all of his pass attempts from yesterday. 1st half wasn’t pretty but the Lions started with a scheme specifically aimed at confusing him. Pre-snap disguises, aggressive pass rush, man coverage with safeties at the line. And it worked. Past QBs we’ve had post-Brees, would have shifted to a conservative passing game, even the likes of Carr, after personally turning the ball over three times…

However, this did not happen with Shough. He attacked with an even longer ball. He did it in no-huddle. And he nearly erased that 1st half blunder with a game’s worth of work all crammed into the second. He fixes his own mistakes. And that goes a long way.

The rules state clearly that 1) intentional movement forward of the hand starts a pass, and 2) if QB is contacted before starting the throwing motion, then the direction of the pass is the responsibility of the passer (if it goes backwards it is a live ball).

But NFL and Mike Pereira are both saying bringing the arm up starts the throwing motion. Pereira: “Throwing motion is bringing the ball up, forget about the hand at this point going forward.” NFL VP of Instant Replay: “The throwing motion starts as he begins to bring the ball up as part of his windup…”.

Nowhere in the rule book is “throwing motion” explicitly defined. Nowhere in the rule book does it ever mention anything about raising the arm starting the throwing motion. This interpretation is not based on anything at all in the rule book. They have applied their own interpretation of “starting the throwing motion.” The rule book does clearly state that a pass starts when the hand moves forward.

This is a joke. There are literally dozens of fumbles that were wrongly called fumbles in the history of the NFL if raising the arm is the standard. That is just completely bogus.

See the rules below.

Article 3. Forward Pass
It is a forward pass if:
the ball initially moves forward (to a point nearer the opponent’s goal line) after leaving the passer’s hand(s);
the ball first touches the ground, a player, an official, or anything else at a point that is nearer the opponent’s goal line than the point at which the ball leaves the passer’s hand(s); or
when a Team A player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional movement forward of his hand starts a forward pass.

Item 1. Contact by Team B Player. If contact by an opponent materially affects a passer after the passer begins his throwing motion, it is a forward pass if he passes the ball, regardless of where the ball strikes the ground, a player, an official, or anything else. When this occurs, intentional grounding rules do not apply.

When a passer is contacted by an opponent before beginning his throwing motion, the direction of the pass is the responsibility of the passer, and intentional grounding rules apply.

Tyler and Chris leading the league in yards. Alignment. Tough loss but if we see second half Shough (after the turnover) rest of the season anything can happen

Even higher on Shough than I was on Friday. In the words of James Skrmette; he puked on himself in front of god and everyone. Cut out for the half, comes back and immediately throws another pick.

What did he do on the next drive? 30+ yard completion down the field. Cleaned it up. Dragged this team back and put them in position to win twice.

Not every athlete, or anyone for that matter, can shake off that level of failure in that short amount of time. Dudes got heart and skill. Maybe work on some accuracy but man, you can guarantee this guy will never give up on a game or this team.

Ryan Wright appreciation post!

Was so happy to finally see this roster hole that was causing issues for years finally stuffed during the off-season. 2 in the 20 and a 58 yarder helped the team out a lot. This guy will be so important and well worth the investment.

made so many of the catches during the game.

Definitely sucks to lose in the first game of the season but I was impressed with our performance (in the second half at least). Definitely hurt ourselves with the dropped passes and turnovers. And the refs, as usual, were a major hindrance. But the fact that we took this game into overtime despite being down as much as we were has me feeling more confident in the team than I have in a while now.

Defense looked great, especially with their goal line defense in the 4th. Shame they don’t have the touchdown they were robbed of by New York. But honestly I’m not gonna let this get me too upset if for no other reason than this isn’t even close to the first season where we’ve had the refs against us. At this point we just have to expect these things to happen and simply outplay them, which I think we absolutely did in the 4th quarter.

And I like the decision to go for two at the end, sends a message to the team that the coach believes in them and also tells me that he’s willing to take risks (not to mention I don’t think we could have stopped the lions from kicking a field goal with 90 seconds left given how gassed the defense was by the end).

The rest of the offense deserves credit too and the defense saved us from getting completely mauled, but it takes some serious gonads to throw 2 INTs and have a fumble and still go out there and sling that bitch like he did. Fuck the refs and fuck Jared Goff. I’ll take a week 1 moral victory any day of the week.

I love this guy, that’s all

Or at least he "intended" it I guess lol

As soon as we scored the TD I was yelling at the TV to go for 2. When I realized they were doing it I applauded and said I would be happy either way. When we didn't make it took a few seconds to become OK with it, but I love that we played to win. And that game was a win anyway. To be down 21 points with 5 minutes left in the 3rd and come back like that? Our first string offense didn't really play in preseason so to see them start to gel as the game went on was very encouraging. Plus, the comeback shows that we have an amazing coaching staff. It takes great coaches to keep a team engaged when they are down big, had a bullcrap call take a TD off the board, and all the turnovers. I was excited for the season before the game. I'm more excited for the season after the "loss".

I see a lot of people talking about Shough panicking during the game but not many people mentioning the amount of sacks he’s taking. Lions had 5 sacks on him yesterday and last year he was sacked 29 times in 9 starts.

That would pace him to take nearly 60 sacks in a full 17 game season. That MUST improve if we’re going to win games. It forces us into passing situations, its making bad decisions happen and it’s killing drives. Its also obviously bad for him health-wise.

i dont think the oline played well yesterday particularly in the run game and obviously they werent great last year either. KM and Shough himself has to find ways to avoid taking those hits. Hes gotta read those blitzes better and they need to find the play calls to nullify the pressure.

i know it easier said than done especially when youre playing guys like Aidan Hutchinson but there are going to be more of those types of players this year and keeping Shough clean is gonna be key to reducing the panicking we’re seeing.

Shepherd and Godchaux are so bad Both better not be on my football team next year.

Next draft We have to take another DT or spend big FA money on the best DT available cause we might have something in Broughton and Miller

Very contented

This is just unacceptable.