RiverDog":1dewtqdq said:HawkGA":1dewtqdq said:A little background perhaps. There is a rule on the rule books that if the crowd is too loud, the visiting quarterback can complain to the official. The first time the crowd gets a warning. The second time is a 5 yard penalty.
Elway took advantage of the rule if the Broncos were backed up in the end zone.
It was a ridiculously stupid rule. While it is probably true that Elway had difficulty hearing, it was abundantly clear the Boomer didn't, yet the rule was really put in the hands of the visiting team's QB. Plus, penalizing the crowd kind of takes away from the point of going to a game. Never a good idea to penalize your customers.
I remember that rule. It was directed at the Kingdome crowds, and you're right, it was as stupid of a rule I can ever remember, especially the way they applied it with the visiting team QB having so much control over it, but I didn't think that it was still on the books. Are you sure it's still an active rule?
Pretty sure it was a Peter King article I read many years ago that described the story. According to the article it was still on the books at the time but it hasn't been enforced in years. Guessing if they hadn't taken it off the books by the time of that article, which was probably already at least a decade if not more after Wyche did it, they haven't bothered to do it since.