They allow any players, coaches or team representatives to speak to the committee in favor or against a rule/rule change. Not a single player, coach or team representative, including the Raiders, chose to do so. The media-driven discussion was dropped after minutes. Every proposed change was withdrawn well before the competition committee even met. I can't post links yet (nor see them) but I assume you are referencing the owners saying they should discuss the issue at the owners meeting. That is a different group than the competition committee. When everyone actually thought about it, they all decided the rule was the best it can be. Google "tuck rule change Pasquarelli" and you can read his two articles on the issue. The tuck rule is used routinely. The Patriots had the same rule against them that year (2001). Its often not even referenced as such because its just not remarkable. Its also amusing that the headslap Woodson delivered to Brady is conveniently ignored on this endless and pointless debate.
As a matter of fact, the rule was called on an apparent fumble by the Jets quarterback, Vinnie Testaverde, in a game that season against the Patriots, which was why I, as a Patriots fan, immediately thought it would be ruled an incomplete pass when I saw Brady fumble the ball in that playoff game against the Raiders. This is such an old debate to most people, but a good one. I've always thought that one of the causes of all the controversy was the fact the television announcers doing the game, didn't know the rule, and badly mislead many TV viewers into thinking it was a bad call.
Yes, you are referencing the owner's meetings. The owners didn't fully understand the rule. They decided that they didn't understand it and tabled it - that means they didn't change it, didn't want to change it necessarily and would get to it later. The competition committee took it up and decided the rule should not be changed whatsoever. That was five years ago. It has not been changed in the mean time, nor has it been 'emphasized' or interpretation changed.
Is Kevin Grogan related to Steve? at least you didn't mention Tony Eason *pukes a little on keyboard*
No it doesn't, but Steve Grogan does. He's actually good friends with my relatives, hooks us up with some nice tickets from time to time. Next time you try to bash 'Patriots fans' remember that we dwindled in mediocrity for the past decade until Parcells took the franchise out of the gutter (1985 was a huge blow to us, they never got over getting reamed by the Bears in the Superbowl until the current Pats dynasty). And that 'tuck rule' call was rediculous, the Patriots got absurdly lucky there. However, Brady played unlike a first year starter after getting the call in his favor, and led them on a Viniateri field goal drive (Vinnys best non-Superbowl FG of his career), and then brought the game into overtime only to have Brady lead the team down the field again to score the game winning FG. Brady owned that game too, passing something like 33/50 for 320 yards or something ludicrous. No doubt that the refs made a bad call - but its not like it was an isolated incident (refs miss calls all the time, and make stupid reversals when they shouldn't), and in typical Fader fashion, they choked when they really needed to step it up. Brady and the Patriots just took advantage of their opportunity.
Nobody responded, because there's nothing there to start an argument.. It's logical, and the truth, so we won't dispute it as Jet fans, and its posted by a Pat fan, so your fellow Pats fans wont dispute it.... Good post, and that's exactly how I feel.. The 01 Pats caught one break, and that's all they needed, because they were a good enough team to not put themselves in position to need that again, and they did what they had to do to win....
