The NFL rule that made Al Davis scream at the top of his lungs, "Mother tucker… MOTHER TUCKER!!!" is no more.
Ok, it's doubtful Davis ever yelled those words, but there is no doubt the "Tuck Rule," as it came to be known, played a significant role in NFL history, most notably on a snow-covered field in Foxboro, Mass., during the 2002 AFC Divisional Round playoff game between the Oakland Raiders and New England Patriots.
You know what happened, so there's no need to go over the details.
If Davis were still with us, he'd be elated, but probably still cursing, to know NFL owners, at their annual meeting in Phoenix, voted 29-1 Wednesday to eliminate the controversial and, if you ask me, stupid rule. Apparently 29 NFL owners also deemed the rule stupid, for lack of (read: laziness of trying to find) a better word.
The Redskins, for this reason, and the Patriots, understandably, abstained from voting. The Pittsburgh Steelers voted to keep the "Tuck Rule." Why, Steelers? Why?
Meanwhile, the Raiders official Twitter feed needed only 17 characters, well shy of the 140 limit, to express the team's sentiments:
Adios, Tuck Rule.
— OAKLAND RAIDERS (@RAIDERS) March 20, 2013
It was only five days ago, when speculation was the "Tuck Rule" was in danger of extinction, that the tweeting Raiders had this to say:
Tuck Rule? It’s been 11 years, 1 month and 23 days…but who’s counting? twitter.com/RAIDERS/status…
— OAKLAND RAIDERS (@RAIDERS) March 14, 2013
