Are you ready for the start of football season TONIGHT?!? New Orleans is playing at Green Bay at 8:30 ET on NBC....
Today's recipe is courtesy of my cousin, Jan. How can you go wrong with chicken stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon??? Ingredients:
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts salt and pepper to taste 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed 8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled ½ cup mayonnaise 1 clove garlic, minced ¼ cup all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon paprika 6 strips of bacon
Instructions: Preheat oven to 325°. Cut a pocket into each chicken breast.Salt and pepper to taste. Drain spinach and squeeze out any additional liquid.Combine with feta cheese, mayonnaise and garlic.Stuff mixture into chicken breasts. Combine flour and paprika and lightly coat stuffed chicken breasts.Wrap one piece of bacon around each and place on a baking rack (sprayed with cooking spray) in a baking dish.Bake uncovered at 325° for one hour or until chicken tests done. Serves 6
Today we wrap up our three-part series on forward progress with a discussion of how it impacts whether a safety is scored.
SUMMARY:
·A safety results in two points to the defense when a play ends in the offense’s end zone
·After a safety, the offense kicks the ball to the defense
·Forward progress can keep a safety from counting
SAFETY DEFINED
You might be thinking, “Wait, I thought a safety was a player on the field!?!” It is.A safety is also one of the ways that the defense can score points... two points, to be precise.According to the NFL onlineRules Digest, a safety occurs when the ball is dead on or behind a team’s own goal line if the impetus came from a player on that team.In other words, a safety occurs when a play ends in the offense’s own end zone, if an action by the offense caused the play to end up there.
A safety can happen several ways, but the most common is when a player is tackled in his own end zone.How does this happen?It is usually because the line of scrimmage was very close to the goal line, like the offense’s 1- or 2-yard line.It may have ended up there because, among other things, a punt was downed there, or the offense lost a lot of yardage on the previous play.
A safety will also be called if the offense commits a penalty inside the end zone and that penalty is one that is enforced from the spot of the foul.The clearest example of this is offensive holding.When a holding penalty is called, the offense is pushed back ten yards from where the holding occurred.Therefore, if holding happens in the end zone, it results in a safety.
Officials signal a safety by raising their arms over their heads and pressing their palms together.
FORWARD PROGRESS
What does forward progress have to do with safeties?Look again at the definition from the NFL Rules Digest.A safety occurs when the play ends in the end zone if the impetus of the play came from a player on offense.This means that the player has to put the ball in his own end zone under his own power.Sound familiar?
We have already learned that the rule of forward progress gives the ball carrier credit for yards he gains under his own power.Imagine, for example, that the line of scrimmage is the offense’s 1-yard line (so they have 99 yards to go to score a touchdown).At the snap, the quarterback gives the ball to the running back who runs to the 3-yard line.He is met at the 3 by a herd of defenders who stop his momentum and push him back into the end zone where he goes down.Instead of a safety, the new line of scrimmage should be the 3-yard line.However, if the running back had run back into his end zone to avoid the herd, it would be a safety.
If you read my first post, you know that I am not an Ohio State fan by any stretch of the imagination.However, below is a video of when OSU got completely hosed by a bad safety call:
This should not have been called a safety as the running back clearly made it out of the end zone and was driven back into the end zone by the defense; he didn’t run there under his own power. It didn't affect the outcome because OSU won, but this could have been a costly error by the officials.
By the way, the offense’s woes don’t end with having two points scored against it.After a safety, the offense must then kick the ball to the other team, which then goes on offense.Under the NFL rules, the offense can kick off using a punt, placekick without a tee (so one player holds the ball for the kicker), or a dropkick.*
Interesting, huh?Safeties are rare in football, so don’t expect to see them on a weekly basis.
*A dropkick is where a player drops the ball and then kicks it when the ball bounces off the ground.Dropkicks are kind of cool.In fact, I’m going to write a post just on the dropkick because there is an interesting one in NFL history.
Just wanted to let you know that I have made some corrections and updates to a few posts. Here is a list of changes:
In the Making Plays post, I've added an explanation of how downs are tracked once a team gets within ten yards of the opponents end zone.
In The Referee and Umpire, I said that the NFL was experimenting with where the umpire is positioned on the field. The League's changes in this regard are actually permanent, and I have added an explanation.
I hope these changes clarify the posts, or answered some questions you've had. Also, if you've read The Defense: Linebackers and Defensive Linemen, you should check out the September 5th issue of Sports Illustrated. It has an interesting article about the 4-3 defense and how teams that traditionally use it are changing their defensive formations multiple times during games to confuse offenses.
So, how did you do on yesterday’s quiz?Look below to find out:
1.Which official wears a white hat and is the boss of the officiating crew?
The referee
2.True or False:The winner of the pregame coin toss gets the ball first.
False: The winner can chose whether to receive the ball, the end of the field his team will defend, or to defer his choice to the second half
3.The offense has first and ten on their own 40. At the snap, the quarterback hands the ball to the running back who runs forward to the 46-yard line. What is the new down and distance?
Second and four
4.Which quarterback led his team on “The Drive” to beat the Cleveland Browns in the AFC Championship game in January 1987?
John Elway, Denver Broncos
5.Two changes were made to the rules regarding kickoffs this year.What are they?
The ball is teed up at the 35-yard line instead of the 30, and the kick coverage can only have a 5-yard head start to run up the field before the ball is kicked.
6.What is the only team to have ever had an undefeated season, and in what year did they accomplish this feat?
The Miami Dolphins, in 1972
7.What is the standard for reversing a call using instant replay?
The referee must determine that there is incontrovertible visual evidence that the call on the field was incorrect.
8.Which Dallas Cowboy had the ball knocked out of his hand at the one-yard line after recovering a fumble, costing his team a touchdown in Super Bowl XXVII?
Leon Lett
9.What do you call a play where a defensive player usually assigned to cover the run or a pass is committed to rushing the quarterback instead?
A blitz
10.What member of the famous “Steel Curtain” defense of the 1970’s is believed to be the reason that the rules protecting receivers were developed?
Mel Blount, Pittsburgh Steelers
Bonus:In Ian Fleming’s “James Bond” novels, what is the name of the Soviet agency tasked with eliminating rogue Soviet operatives?
SMERSH
If you got 100%, congratulations!Maybe you should teach us a thing or two…
If you got 70% or greater, you are certainly in the hunt for MVR (Most Valuable Reader).
If you got less than 50%, consider reading Naptime Huddle every day.And maybe print it out, tape it to your pillow, to your toilet seat…
So, think you've learned anything on Naptime Huddle? With the regular season starting later this week (Saints at Packers, Thursday, 8:30 on NBC), I've decided to test your knowledge with our first ever pop quiz! At the end of the quiz are links to the posts that will help you find the answers, but you know you don't need it...
1. Which official wears a white hat and is the boss of the officiating crew?
2. True or False: The winner of the pregame coin toss gets the ball first.
3. The offense has first and ten on their own 40. At the snap, the quarterback hands the ball to the running back who runs forward to the 46-yard line. What is the new down and distance?
4. Which quarterback led his team on “The Drive” to beat the Cleveland Browns in the AFC Championship game in January 1987?
5. Two changes were made to the rules regarding kickoffs this year. What are they?
6. What is the only team to have ever had an undefeated season, and in what year did they accomplish this feat?
7. What is the standard for reversing a call using instant replay?
8. Which Dallas Cowboy had the ball knocked out of his hand at the one-yard line after recovering a fumble, costing his team a touchdown in Super Bowl XXVII?
9. What do you call a play where a defensive player usually assigned to cover the run or a pass is committed to rushing the quarterback instead?
10. What member of the famous “Steel Curtain” defense of the 1970’s is believed to be the reason that the rules protecting receivers were developed?
Bonus: In Ian Fleming’s “James Bond” novels, what is the name of the Soviet agency tasked with eliminating rogue Soviet operatives?
Yesterday, Naptime Huddle introduced the phrase forward progress.This concept comes into play quite often with touchdowns, which is why I introduce two more terms in this post:breaking the plane and the around-the-world rule.
Remember that the goal line separates the end zone from the rest of the playing field.The end zone also has four orange pylons placed at each of its corners, and these pylons are considered part of the end zone, and the goal line.Extending skyward from the front edge of the goal line is an imaginary wall called the “plane” of the goal line.When the ball touches this imaginary wall, it “breaks the plane.”Under the rules of football, the ball only has to break the plane to score a touchdown. Therefore, the runner’s body doesn’t have to get into the end zone to score a touchdown.He can just stick his ball hand out far enough for the ball to cross even a sliver of the goal line or brush against a pylon.
Moreover, the runner’s body doesn’t even have to be inbounds for a touchdown to count.The plane of the goal line is considered to be a line that extends past the outer boundary lines of the field and around the world.This is called the “around the world rule.”As a result, a player can score without physically being in the field of play.For example, if a runner is diving for the end zone and his body is heading out of bounds, he can still score if the ball touches an orange pylon or breaks the plane that’s stretching around the world before he hits the ground.This might seem like a fantastic scenario, but you’d be surprised how often this happens.
Here is a good example of both of these concepts in action:
So, where does forward progress come in?A touchdown is scored once the ball breaks the plane, regardless of where the runner is tackled, or lands.For example, when a runner, or just the ball, breaks the plane, the defenders can push the runner back out of and away from the end zone, but the touchdown still counts.Because these plays can be so close, two officials must be positioned at the goal line once the ball gets within a certain distance of the goal line.These officials are then in a position to determine whether the runner’s forward progress allowed the ball to break the plane.As you can imagine, this kind of touchdown is challenged by coaches quite often.However, since a referee can only reverse a call with indisputable video evidence, getting these calls reversed isn’t guaranteed.
Today’s lesson is the first in a three-part series on the concept of forward progress.Tomorrow, we’ll discuss the impact forward progress has on scoring touchdowns.
If you have been watching preseason football, or have been a casual football watcher in the past, you may have noticed that the next play doesn’t always start where the ball carrier hit the ground, but sometimes further downfield.Under the rules of football, the player with the football (the runner) is given credit for all of the yards he gains under his own power before he is tackled.Therefore, if the runner starts from the 30-yard line and is tackled at the 40-yard line, the runner has gained ten yards and his team begins its next play at the 40-yard line (where the ball is “spotted” by the officials).Simple, right?
However, if he reaches the 40 and a defender pushes him backward so that he lands on the ground at the 38-yard line, the ball is still spotted at the 40-yard line.This is because of the rule of forward progress.The officials determine the furthest point at which the ball advanced when the runner was stopped (or, where the ball goes out of bounds on a fumble).This is called the point of forward progress and becomes the “dead-ball spot.”The officials also need to determine forward progress when an airborne receiver is hit by a defender and knocked backward to the ground.
Notice that I said the runner gets credit for yards he gained under his own power.This idea is key for determining the point of forward progress.If the runner gets to the 40 and then backtracks to the 35 to avoid a tackle, the 40-yard line is no longer the point of forward progress.This is because the runner chose to retreat those five yards and did so under his own power.Therefore, if the runner is tackled at the 37-yard line after backtracking, the dead-ball spot is the 37-yard line, not the 40.
Below are two examples of forward progress rulings.The first involves a catch, and the receiver was awarded a first down after replay.In the second, the official signals that the receiver stepped out of bounds short of the first down line.However, since the contact by the defender made him go out, he should also be given the first down.
As you may expect, coaches often use challenges to question the point of forward progress.Of course, a coach won’t typically use a review for that purpose unless the play resulted in a first down, a long gain, or a touchdown.Touchdowns are where forward progress gets really interesting, so, naturally, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to hear about it!
