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As for today, I hate the NFL rulebook. To be fair, I think it hates itself as well. It takes winding roads in ways that would surprise no one, but it’s also why clear answers are rare to come by for why something was called the way it was. When Josh Allen was credited with a receiving touchdown, I needed to know why.
Spoiler, it can get boiled down to, “well, it just does,” according to the rules. That said, when Josh Allen made us all take note of receiving touchdowns in the Buffalo Bills 2024 game against the San Francisco 49ers, it created a moment that’s worth diving into and what I realized is we (universally) discussed it all wrong. We’ll get into that. Hope you enjoy.
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I was at the game. The weirdest part about watching it live was understanding what you saw, and not really believing it. I thought somehow another receiver maybe was there and they got the lateral. But there’s no mistaking Josh Allen, he’s no receiver. So maybe tight end? No way, why would they be lined way out wide? Just a bizarre thing to see live.
If a ball is pitched backwards it becomes a running play so why not just score it that way?
Now do one, The Buffalo Sabres scored a goal against the Capitals last night without taking a shot. They had one goal in the third period, No Shots recorded in that period
this combo is a level of laconic sports nerdery that I would watch weekly
You keep saying the pass play ended when Cooper caught it. But if someone catches a 1-yard pass and runs 79 yards with it, those are 80 receiving yards, not 1 receiving yard and 79 rushing yards. So who is it that you’re citing when you say the pass play ended at the point of the catch? It doesn’t jibe with the way yardage stats are tracked or how anyone in the history of football has ever seen things.
Hook and lateral (Hook & Ladder) for a TD
QB gets a passing TD, and passing yardage for the full length of the play.
First guy to catch the ball gets a reception, and receiving yards up to the point where his lateral is caught by another player.
Guy who catches the lateral and runs it in for a TD gets receiving yards from the point where he caught the lateral to the goal line, and a receiving TD, but doesn't get a reception.
If you have multiple laterals on a passing play, then each guy who gets a lateral gets receiving yards from the point he caught the lateral, to the point another player catches a lateral from him.
8:25 I don't agree with the assertion that there shouldn't be a passing TD. If we take the Vikings example does Culpepepper not deserve a passing TD just because moss lateraled it to a different receiver at the end? If that were the case you could steal passing TDs from your QB any time you were waltzing into the endzone with one of your teammates by just lateraling him the ball right before going in. I think the NFL actually scores it correctly, at least IMO… there's a passing TD regardless of laterals and whoever ends up in the end zone deserves the receiving TD buuutt they don't necessarily deserve a reception… whoever caught the ball deserves a reception but you have to assign the TD to whoever got it obviously. I think the NFL for once got something right IMO 🤷🏻
Holy crap I just realized my Madden game maybe didn't glitch how I thought it did. Every once in a long blue moon I'll randomly see a receiver who has a receiving TD without any receptions and thinking that obviously can't be possible the game must just have glitched or something… however what's happening is the guy with the TD is receiving a lateral and scoring and then just not catching any other passes the rest of the game… amazing.
You guys should check out the sabres game from the Jan 15th 2025 they scored a goal in a period where they registered zero shots on net lol
You guys Would go crazy over the play that Josh Allen said he wanted to create in an interview With Pat McAfee. his idea was to throw it to a receiver. Who catches it on one foot so that he never has possession. And then that now player can throw it forward.
Because the passing play as you put, it wouldn't have been complete. And a series of one footed football players keep throwing the ball. Forward Without ever gaining possession.Because josh allen is an evil genius like that… He also said.
He wanted to make a play where you make it look like a punt. But really you just throw it underhanded. So everyone thinks it's a punt and then somebody on the would be punting. Team catches it and goes in for a touchdown. Because it was never actually kicked. They just threw it from behind a wall of guys, so you couldn't tell it wasn't actually punted…. I hope 1 day he's able to pull these things off.Just so you can lose your minds over the repercussions in the rule
The "plays" you are referencing is for penalty enforcement and not for recordkeeping / stats.
It’s a hook and lateral with a completion to a WR lateraled back to the QB, what is so hard to understand about this? The NFL rule is both easy to understand and logically correct.
Go Bills 😃👍
Why is this show nothing but affluent nerdy white guys?
"We won't give you a reception, we are going to call it a running play, but here is a 7 yard receiving touchdown I guess"
As usual the rules of football make complete sense.
This falls under the category of Hook and Ladder play which has clear defined scoring rules in the NFL. Jamo Williams had one a few weeks later as well. The QB gets the passing yds and the passing TD (if applicable), the first player gets the reception, the second player gets the receiving yds and the TD (if applicable.) In this case the QB was the QB and the second player, so he also gets the passing yds, the receiving yds and the both TDs it makes sense it's just weird because a third person wasn't involved.
I love that Will brings some hockey to the channel with that Lindgren goal
I LUV ROKT LEEG
Does Allen get credited with yards after catch without being credited with a reception? I seem to remember that, long ago when laterals were a greater part of the game, laterals were a part of the scoring records. Since laterals are so rare now, they are an inconvenient part of official scoring rules. This is kind of like a batter in baseball being awarded first on catcher's interference.
And the next one should be "how to score a goal without touching the puck, and without shots on goal in the period" based on the recent Buffalo vs Carolina game.
I personally think this makes perfect sense, You can't have a passing play and rushing play on the same down. If the ball is thrown for a forward pass, all yards gained are receiving yards, all td's scored are receiving touchdowns.
This format is Top-Notch. Kudos to all!
It feels like you defined their idea on scoring in just the sentence "Down not a play". Everything that takes place in the down is recorded as a passing down. the individual plays are categorized as running plays in a passing down (YAC, Receiving Yards, etc.) but they would all still have their own subcategories in a passing down. Rushing stats would be for a rushing down. It totally makes sense how they score it based on the premise you gave in the video its just confusing to speak out to another person but everything seems to start from the question is it a running down or a passing down. Then the stat tree breaksdown the play from there haha.
It's one of those things were it's nebulous and before fantasy football no one cared. TD passes / receptions are the most out there stats in general since unless the ball was caught in the end zone the amount of credit the pass should be given is drastically different.
Hand the ball to running back, rushing touchdown.
Throw the ball 1 inch forward to same running back, receiving touchdown.
It's arbitrary at the edges but a lot of things are.
You have to have a passing touchdown because you have passing yards on the play.
Its a passing down not a rushing down