(Sorry, this is definitely in the wrong forum, but I'm doing some research for a journalism piece and I need to hear back quickly from knowledgeable longtime fans. Can the thread can remain here for a day or two until I get a few responses? Thanks, Mods!) Guys, you'll recall that in 2008, the NFL (finally!) abolished the "force-out" rule, which said that receivers could catch balls in the air, get hit or pushed, land out of bounds, and the passes would be ruled complete if, in the ref's opinion, the receiver WOULD HAVE landed in bounds had he not been hit in the air. This was a terrible rule for several reasons that I can talk about for days, but that's a conversation for another day. Thankfully, they got rid of it. My question: The rule was abolished in 2008, but when was this force-out rule first instituted? My memory tells me the force-out rule only existed for like 6, 8, 10 years, maybe 15 at most, but I can't find anything about this online. I read things about the abolishment of the rule that say, "Before 2008, a receiver who caught a ball in the air..." as if the force-out rule was ALWAYS a thing. But this totally defies my memory. Did the force-out rule really exist, for example, in the 1980's? Or even earlier? Does anyone have any specific memories around this? Much appreciated!
the abolished the rule due to a horrible call against us. i'll never forget that play. I can't even find a video for it but IIRC chad pennington was QB, threw an obvious TD to TE chris baker who was pushed out and they ruled he wouldn't have come down in bounds despite it being clear as day. IIRC replay wasn't allowed back then either. it was a typical jets screw job
I'm not sure if that's why they abolished it but it was literally the classic interpretation of the force out rule that they neglected to call. Baker got fucking thrown from a yard in bound in the air to four yards out of bounds. Here's the NYT article as it's the only evidence I can find on Google. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/30/sports/football/30jets.html
How does that airhead announcer with Wischusen determine "I'm not sure he would've come down with both feet in bounds." What a play by Chad too.
somebody made a video where they erased out the defenders as he was coming down and he was so far in bounds it wasn't even funny. and since it was a "judgement call" play it wasn't reviewable. jets got screwed and that's an issue with the NFL. people tune in to see amazing comeback plays like that and the refs just rob them of them
Random observation, but I noticed that there's no II or Jr after Winslow on his jersey. Seems like players have it on their jerseys these days even if their fathers weren't famous players. Not saying it's a good or bad thing, just an observation.
I didn't think it was an active rule as long as you do but maybe I'm wrong. I struck out for the past hour looking through ref blogs and NFL rules history. Might be worth finding one of the TV refs like Pereira on Twitter to ask.
Thank you! I mean, for validating my confusion. How long did you think it was a rule? Less than six years, you mean? To be honest, if it was a rule for only three or four years, I wouldn't be surprised. I refuse to believe it was always the rule. I can't be that senile. I scoured multiple lists of rule changes over the years, and there's so much literature about the rule being 86'd, but nothing about it being put in to begin with. It's so weird. Must have something to do with the rise of the internet in the interim. (I'm sworn off Twitter, by the way. I'm too fragile.)
Well the past few years my memory hasn't been what it used to be, but I kind of remember talking about them instituting it as a new rule on this forum, so I feel like it couldn't have been more than a few years, but I could be wrong. And since the last TGG server crash happened a year or so before the rule was abolished, I have no way of finding out if that's true.
I found a few blog-ish type sites that discussed football officiating in general and made reference to the NFL force-out rule but turned out to be dead ends.
My recollection is that it was always the rule for as long as I watched and that would have been before 1960.
This is legit breaking my mind. I've now heard from like 8 guys who know what they're talking about, including you and Byz on TGG, and it's literally split down the middle whether this rule existed in the 1980's or not. Half say yes, it was always the rule, the other half say no, it was only a rule for like X years, and not before the 90's. And the tie-breaker is my own trust-worthy(?) memory vs. the fact that there's nothing online about the rule being instituted.
I'm siding with the 'it wasn't always there rule', but have no proof of that. I'm glad it's gone btw , bloody stupid rule.
It's very difficult to track down info on stuff that went on pre-internet. Unless a news story has been digitised we are left scrambling in the dark to research stuff like this. BUT, I can say categorically that the forceout rule existed at least as far back as the 1970s. In the game that gave us the original 'Hail Mary pass' between the Cowboys and Vikings on December 28, 1975, Vikings corner Nate Wright hit Cowboys receiver Drew Pearson in the act of Pearson making a catch. The hit took Pearson out of bounds and would have ended the game had the officials not ruled that Pearson would have come down inbounds were it not for the forceout. That's as far back as I've managed to get so far, but I'll keep looking.
