NFL Will Reconsider Tuck Rule During Offseason Meetings

Of all the rules in the NFL, one of the more controversial ones remains the infamous Tuck Rule that some say allowed the New England Patriots to begin their dynasty. But after a decade of exististence, the NFL is going to review the rule and decide if they will keep it as part of the rule book, amend it or just abolish it altogether.

“This is going to be part of a bigger discussion in the offseason of QB pass/fumbles and the tuck rule with the Competition Committee,” the NFL’s director of officials Dean Blandino said. “This will be discussed in the offseason.”

While there have been plenty of calls over the years since the Tom Brady fumble/non-fumble call in the AFC Championship game, it seems that the Andrew Luck call from this past Sunday is motivating the NFL to go in and take a hard look at the relevancy and accuracy of the rule. On that play, Luck fumbled the ball, but replay suggested that he was trying to bring his arm forward to attempt a pass, making the play incomplete.

“It was ruled on the field a fumble and the key here is the tuck rule,” Blandino said. “The rule is, if the quarterback brings his arm up to throw in an obvious passing motion, any intentional forward movement of the hand with control of the football will constitute a forward pass. That’s the rule.”

The rule has been blasted as being a dumb rule since it was made official back in 2001. Every single angle of the Tom Brady replay shows that Brady was bringing the ball back into his stomach, and it was forced out after that. Even today, plays similar to it go either way in terms of a fumble or incomplete pass.

After nearly a decade of using a rule, simply because no one wanted to admit they were wrong, we may finally see the end of one of the dumber rules in pro football.