Victor Cruz: Giants Wide Receiver Reveals Rule That Must Be Changed (Video)

Every football fan knows the phrase "down by contact." It's one of the most important phrases in the professional pigskin lexicon, as it signifies when a given play has come to an end.

Apparently, though, it doesn't always apply.

Those who watched today's game between the New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals will know exactly what I'm talking about. With the Giants down 27-24 late in the fourth quarter, Eli Manning hit Victor Cruz for a substantial gain. At the end of the play, however, Cruz hit the deck despite the fact nobody touched him. He then let go of the ball, which was pounced on by Arizona defenders.

Cruz was initially ruled down by contact. But because nobody touched him, it should have been a fumble, hence the reason Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt immediately tried to challenge the ruling on the field.

But referee Jerome Boger wouldn't let him. Courtesy of ESPN NFC West blogger Mike Sando, Boger explained that Cruz "gave himself up for down and therefore did not fumble when setting ball on ground."

In so many words, the play was over because Cruz surrendered. The very next play, Manning hit Hakeem Nicks for what would prove to be the game-winning touchdown. The Giants won 31-27.

Needless to say, there's a little bit of outrage among the football-watching public right about now. After all, it was abundantly obvious to the naked eye that the play involving Cruz should have been ruled a fumble, which would have resulted in Arizona ball and, likely, a win.

Making matters worse, Mike Pereira, former head of officiating in the NFL, agrees that the officials in Arizona got the call wrong.

"In Giants game - in my opinion it should have been ruled a fumble," tweeted Pereira.

Pereira also said, via Judy Battista of The New York Times, that the ruling effectively protected Cruz "from his own stupidity."

Personally, I think it's kind of hard to argue that point. There are, after all, only two ways to explain Cruz's actions. He either knows the rule book by heart, or he made a dumb mistake and got away with it. The latter sounds like the much more reasonable explanation.

This being said, the true problem here is not Cruz's stupidity. It's the stupidity of the rule. Unless we're talking about a quarterback going into a slide, there should be no rule that allows offensive players to determine when and where they should be ruled down. You can argue that it's a good safety measure, but I think it defies common sense.

And worse, it's a rule that is essentially open to interpretation. After having seen the Cruz play, ball carriers might try to exploit the ruling. We could see something akin to a kid saying "time out" and "time in" in a game of tag.

This is not something the NFL should want to risk. If they have any brains, they'll go back and amend this rule before it screws up any more games.