Leaping

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This article is about the American football rule violation. For other uses, see LEAP.

Leaping in professional sports refers to a violation of NFL rules where a player on defense jumps in an attempt to block a field goal and lands on a fellow teammate. According to the rules, if a defensive player lines up more than one yard from the line of scrimmage, runs forward, jumps in the air in an attempt to block the kick, then lands on a teammate, this constitutes a leaping penalty. The penalty is also considered unsportsmanlike conduct, resulting in 15 yards (or half the distance to the goal, whichever is shorter) and an automatic first down.

[edit] Most famous leaping call

On October 6, 2003, the Indianapolis Colts played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football in a game where the Colts erased a 21 point deficit with less than 4 minutes remaining in regulation. In overtime, the Colts would eventually get the ball and attempt a field goal. The attempt failed, but Simeon Rice was called for leaping. This call even prompted criticism from long time sports broadcaster Al Michaels, asking "What the hell was that?" upon the replay. The second attempt at a field goal succeeded in giving the Colts the victory and sparked a national debate in what many considered a B.S. call. However, upon further examination of the replay and an explanation by the NFL, it was proved that Rice was lined up 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage, ran forwards, jumped in the air to try and block the kick. These actions are all legal, but when Rice landed on a fellow teammate, this became an illegal move.

[edit] Back in the day

This rule was put into effect following complaints by kickers and several recommendations by the competition committee. For years defenses were able to run forward and use their fellow teammates' backs to jump even further in the air thus being able to block many field goal attempts. This became frustrating for kickers as they would now have to kick the ball almost straight up to get over these blockers, eliminating distance from their trajectories.