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First the tuck......

It's not often that an NFL quarterback gets away with completing two passes on one play, but that's what Tom Brady did to the Rams last season, and now the Rams are proposing a rule change to make sure no one else ever gets stuck in the situation that they found themselves in last November.

Under the Rams' proposed rule, teams will lose a down if they throw a second forward pass from behind the line of scrimmage or if they throw a pass from behind the line of scrimmage after the ball has already crossed the line of scrimmage. This might seem like a very specific rule, but the Rams are proposing it because of what happened with Brady back in Week 11.

On a third-and-10 play for the Buccaneers in the fourth quarter, a pass thrown by Brady was batted back to him and he responded by throwing another pass, which ended up being an 8-yard completion to Mike Evans.

The officials saw the second pass and threw a flag, but it left the Rams in a tough spot. If they accepted the penalty, it would only be for 5 yards, which means Brady and the Buccaneers offense would get to come back on the field for a third-and-15. If they declined the penalty, the second pass would COUNT and the Buccaneers would be facing a fourth-and-2.


From the Rams' point of view, there was nothing fair about this situation. Even though Brady committed an egregious penalty, the Buccaneers were either going to get another down (if penalty is accepted) or gain 8 yards (if penalty is declined). The Rams ended up declining the penalty and Brady got credited for an 8-yard pass (The Buccaneers also decided to punt on fourth-and-2 from their own 42 in a game they would lose 27-24).

When someone throws a forward pass from beyond the line of scrimmage, the penalty is 5 yards and a loss of down, and that's the same punishment the Rams want for anyone who throws two passes. If the Rams' proposal had been in place, they would have accepted the penalty on Brady and the Buccaneers would have faced a fourth-and-15.

If this rule gets voted through, we can go ahead and call it the "Tom Brady rule" because the Rams would have never proposed it if Brady hadn't done it against them.

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