NFL Doesn't Even Consider Abolishing Tuck Rule; Anti-Hippie Agenda More Important

The 2008 NFL owner's meeting was memorable for any number of reasons, but I'll cite two here: the force-out rule was abolished and the Chiefs are still pushing their anti-hippie agenda.

And while it's pretty easy to point to the "hair rule" as perhaps the most absurd suggestion since Pacman Jones swore off strip clubs (for three or four years), Yahoo.com's Michael Silver is more upset about a rule that wasn't even on the table: the tuck rule.

Silver goes into painstaking detail (for Raiders fans, anyway) to recreate the Play That Started it All -- Charles Woodson blitzing Tom Brady silly, knocking the ball out of his hands as he sacked the Patriots quarterback. Oakland's Greg Biekert recovered the alleged fumble and the Raiders seemed destined for the Super Bowl.

But referee Walt Coleman, knower of NFL regs, by-laws and whatnot, pointed out that Rule 3, Section 21, Article 2, Note 2 stipulated that Brady had, in fact, thrown an incomplete pass. The Patriots kept the ball and an heroic Adam Vinatieri field goal later, were headed to New Orleans Pittsburgh (and then New Orleans).

Forget that Brady admitted to Silver that he assumed it was a fumble. And forget, as Silver writes, that:

"from the time we start playing football in our front yards as little kids, all of us understand the basic tenets of football, and this is one of them: If a guy comes off the blindside and blasts a quarterback who is clearly not throwing the football, and the ball flies free, the defense must be rewarded."

Silver diatribe, continued:

Supposedly, the competition committee is worried that there will be too many quarterback fumbles if the Tuck Rule is abolished. To which I say: Are you serious? What would be so terrible about that? Forced fumbles are a part of the game, and if you want to limit them, do a better job of protecting the quarterback or instruct him to get rid of it earlier.

Unlike the force-out rule, which Titans head coach Jeff Fisher says requires officials to "play God", the tuck rule is reviewable, and more importantly, not going anywhere. Plus, it's been more than six years since most of us learned it was even on the books, and at this point we're all used to it. Even if we think it's dumb and has no place in football. It's kinda like the Mike Tice of NFL rules.