The NFL blitz franchise began with the release of NFL Blitz in the late 1990's and kicked off a very violent, but entertaining sports game where NFL players were seemingly super powers and many of the actual governing rules of the NFL are disregarded. The disregard for the actual NFL rules such as late hitting (there is actually a small period of time after each play where a player on the defensive team can hit opposing players after the whistle), pass interference and I think it is fair to say unneccesary roughness. After not playing the original Blitz for a few years, it came to my attention that while the game is all about the rules of the sport it ignores, there is a surprisingly meticulous attention to rules in Blitz which actually parralel real NFL rules. There are several obvious rules which are needed just to call it a "Football videogame" such as touchbacks, an existence of a line of scrimmage, and a 100 yard field, however there is one rule that does not fit the "obvious." This rule is rarely used in the NFL as it is a rarity for this event to actually happen. When the ball is fumbled and it goes out of bounds in the opponents endzone,
. While playing Blitz with a friend, this event occured, and because neither of us had ever seen or heard of this rule, my friend called his father, an avid football fan, to confirm or deny the existence of this rule. The man's answer parralled the rule shown in the link above. So who decides which rules to ignore and which ones to implement? It is clear the some rules were removed to make the game more violent, but why implement a rule that no one has ever heard of? This is a question I have not been able to find an answer for, but i will continue to search.
