The Isaac Curtis Rule
"The Isaac Curtis rule" should not be confused with the "Mel Blount rule", which was a more stricter revising of "The Isaac Curtis Rule". Because Isaac Curtis had world-class speed, there weren't defensive backs that could keep up with Curtis and all teams would double and sometimes even triple cover him. In 1973 in his first year, the Bengals won the Central Division and faced the eventual Super Bowl Champions, the Miami Dolphins. Don Shula's defensive backs didn't have the speed to cover Curtis and decided that he would have them push, bump, and hold him down the field. After that game, the NFL defenses including the Steelers started doing the same thing to stop Isaac Curtis. Paul Brown wanted the rule changed, telling the NFL Competition Committee "What good is it for us to have performers, if they aren't allowed to perform."
"The Isaac Curtis Rule": A defender is allowed to block a receiver within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. After the initial 5 yards, any contact will be considered holding, which is a 5-yard penalty and an automatic first down.
Read more about this topic: Isaac Curtis
Famous quotes containing the word rule:
“We’ve only just begun to learn about the water and its secrets, just as we’ve only touched on outer space. We don’t entirely rule out the possibility that there might be some form of life on another planet. Then why not some entirely different form of life in a world we already know is inhabited by millions of living creatures?”
—Harry Essex (b. 1910)