For those of you who don’t know me, football is the only sport where I have two favorite teams.
As a New Yorker, I’ve been a Giants fan since the days of Norm Snead and games at Yale Bowl in Connecticut.
But, when my cousin was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 1971, I became a Raiders fan.
The Raiders played a game several years ago against the San Diego Chargers. The Raiders ended up winning the game on a pass to their tight end, Dave Casper, that he fumbled into the end zone, and it was recovered by Oakland for the winning touchdown.
That play was dubbed the “Holy Roller,” and it spawned a new rule in the NFL, which came to be known as the “Dave Casper” rule, or the “Holy Roller” rule. The rule stated that a fumble could not be advanced by the fumbling team except for the player that fumbled it. If the fumble progressed forward and was recovered by the fumbling team, the ball was placed at the spot of the fumble.
It became a well-known rule that was common knowledge to fans.
Usually, the NFL does a pretty good job of announcing rule changes and new rules. Announcers will talk about new rules during games early in the season, in case we hadn’t heard of the changes.
Being in the sports journalism business, we’re pretty well informed of rule changes.
Somehow, the “Holy Roller” rule was somewhere along the line, abolished.
I don’t know when it happened, or how the rule change evaded me, but apparently it did.
I have seen several games lately where the Holy Roller rule was not enforced.
Most recently, it happened during the Colts-Patriots game in the AFC championship game.
In the first quarter, Tom Brady fumbled a ball that eventually wound up in the Indy end zone, was recovered by the Pats, and they were awarded a touchdown. As far as I know the rule to be, the ball should have been placed at the spot where Brady fumbled. But it wasn’t, and New England was on top, 7-0.
In the fourth quarter, Indianapolis running back Dominic Rhodes fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by the Colts Jeff Saturday in the end zone for a touchdown. When I saw the play live and on replay, I knew that the ball was recovered by Indy, but I thought that the ball should have been returned to the spot of the fumble, but it wasn’t.
Don’t get me wrong, I was rooting for Indy and was glad to see the TD, but I thought that the wrong call was made…again.
I’m looking for some help here…CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HOLY ROLLER RULE???
As a New Yorker, I’ve been a Giants fan since the days of Norm Snead and games at Yale Bowl in Connecticut.
But, when my cousin was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 1971, I became a Raiders fan.
The Raiders played a game several years ago against the San Diego Chargers. The Raiders ended up winning the game on a pass to their tight end, Dave Casper, that he fumbled into the end zone, and it was recovered by Oakland for the winning touchdown.
That play was dubbed the “Holy Roller,” and it spawned a new rule in the NFL, which came to be known as the “Dave Casper” rule, or the “Holy Roller” rule. The rule stated that a fumble could not be advanced by the fumbling team except for the player that fumbled it. If the fumble progressed forward and was recovered by the fumbling team, the ball was placed at the spot of the fumble.
It became a well-known rule that was common knowledge to fans.
Usually, the NFL does a pretty good job of announcing rule changes and new rules. Announcers will talk about new rules during games early in the season, in case we hadn’t heard of the changes.
Being in the sports journalism business, we’re pretty well informed of rule changes.
Somehow, the “Holy Roller” rule was somewhere along the line, abolished.
I don’t know when it happened, or how the rule change evaded me, but apparently it did.
I have seen several games lately where the Holy Roller rule was not enforced.
Most recently, it happened during the Colts-Patriots game in the AFC championship game.
In the first quarter, Tom Brady fumbled a ball that eventually wound up in the Indy end zone, was recovered by the Pats, and they were awarded a touchdown. As far as I know the rule to be, the ball should have been placed at the spot where Brady fumbled. But it wasn’t, and New England was on top, 7-0.
In the fourth quarter, Indianapolis running back Dominic Rhodes fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by the Colts Jeff Saturday in the end zone for a touchdown. When I saw the play live and on replay, I knew that the ball was recovered by Indy, but I thought that the ball should have been returned to the spot of the fumble, but it wasn’t.
Don’t get me wrong, I was rooting for Indy and was glad to see the TD, but I thought that the wrong call was made…again.
I’m looking for some help here…CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HOLY ROLLER RULE???
3 comments:
I know this is an old post but I'll clarify the rule since this came up fairly high on a google search.
The holy roller rule is in effect. The rule states the AFTER the 2 minute warning the player that fumbles a ball is the only player that may advance the ball.
From the rulebook:
"If any player fumbles after the two-minute warning in a half, only the fumbling player is permitted to recover and/or advance the ball. If recovered by any other offensive player, the ball is dead at the spot of the fumble unless it is recovered behind the spot of the fumble. In that case, the ball is dead at the spot of recovery. Any defensive player may recover and/or advance any fumble at any time."
Geez, as a sports writer I would think you could check the rulebook ;).
Just watched the Dallas Saints game... trying to figure out how the Saints advanced on a fumble to the 2 yard line? It wasn't the same player that fumbled and obviously it was after the 2 min warning since the game was in OT.
An overtime period has no relation to regulation time with regard to the 2 minute part of the rule. An OT period has its own 2-minute rule regarding advancing a fumble. Just got called (correctly) in the Chargers @ Raiders Thursday Night game.
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