The 97 yard kickoff return for a touchdown

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

Was that a violation of the wedge rule? I was honestly listening to it on the radio and did not see it, but the commentators seemed to think that the Bucs got away with one there. What say ye?

[natty]

I think they got away with it. Doesn't matter though, the ST coverage has been absolutely horrible for a few years now. Completely inexcusable.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d8137e3dc/Stroughter-97-yard-TD-kickoff-return

[C47]

It was a violation, I was shocked the Fox crew actually pointed it out. Doesn't matter like the person above me said, our ST coverage has been poor for years now....

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

After watching the video, I'll agree. There were only three lined up with one behind that. I can see why no violation was called, and coverage was atrocious besides.

[mountainpantherfan]

I think a true wedge is when the blockers lock arms or hands, sometimes causing a "clothes line" type of effect. Teams are still allowed to have a three man line with even two blockers arm/hand locked. The violation only occurs when all three are locked.

[firstdayfan]

More than two guys is the definition of a wedge, and they had three, simple as that. I've seen it called a lot this season and the penalties that I've seen looked similiar to that one. It doesn't matter though because we won and the coverage wouldn't have stopped it anyway. It's like when holding gets called on the other side of the field, it had nothing to do with the outcome of the play.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

I thought the wedge rule stated no more than three lined up?

[mountainpantherfan]

Okay, I've spent 30 mins trying to find some information about the wedge rule and the best thing I found was on PFT which is sad.

Everything that I have read has said that a wedge is when a group of players line up horizontaly and lock arms, moving forward to block during a kick return.

In contrast, explanations of the rule say nothing about the arms being locked or unlocked. Only that a group of players of three or more have to be at least 2 yards apart; but only two of the three.

I think this is one of those cases where the NFL is trying to put on a front that they are trying to make the game safer when in reality nothing was really changed.

[R0CKnR0LLA]

They never locked arms. You had 3 players move side by side close to one another for about half a second and then spread apart going out to make their blocks. It wasn't a wedge in the traditional sense. Technically it could still be viewed as a penalty but it's not something you can really count on being called 100% of the time.

Bottom line is our coverage needs to be better. It's been pretty horrible all year (minus the Washington game), you can't really blame that on the refs.

[Guild]

As others have pointed out locking arms in some fashion is the key to the now penalized 3+ man wedge.

[Brooklyn Bully]

They didn't lock up, nor did they run together. The thirs guy trailed off almost immediately.