That'snot what happened to Smith in the Carolina game yesterday. His knee was the first thing to hit the ground. [/b][/quote]You're right plawrence, his knee was the first thing to hit the ground. So that means that the player was down, and the play was over. You can't fumble if the play is over and dead. The rule was not an issue in this case. That would be like in basketball, if a player steps on the out-of-bounds line, but then shoots a 3-pointer and the defense goaltends the shot. The ball is turned over once the player steps on the out-of-bounds line, so there was no shot attempt, and because of that, there was no goaltend.