Every year, the NFL adds rules that confuse general fans, players, coaches and sometimes even those administrating the rules, the officials.
Today, a nuance of the NFL's rules came to light in interesting fashion.
Following a Jason Snelling fumble that bounced precariously close to out of bounds before being recovered by the Arizona Cardinals, Mike Smith did what any coach looking at a close play that went against his team would do; he threw the red challenge flag.
There's just one problem. Turnovers are automatically reviewed, unless, apparently, the coach tries to challenge it first.
As referee Bill Vinovich explained, there would be no review of the play because Mike Smith threw the red challenge flag before the review was initiated. It's illegal for a coach to try to challenge a play that falls under the booth's jurisdiction. The Falcons were also penalized for their coach's illegal attempted challenge.
It's just one more rarely seen rule that we'll have to keep in mind in the future.
