Understanding the NFL rulebook is as easy as trying to put a toddler to bed. If there is a way to weasel around the rules, teams will figure it out. The Broncos, in perhaps the league’s most thrilling game this season, did not so much break the rules on Sunday — they exploited them.

The idea of high-jumping an offensive line to block a kick has been surging in the NFL since at least 2013, and last Sunday, it reached a pinnacle. Denver rookie safety Justin Simmons leaped the New Orleans Saints line with 1 minute, 22 seconds remaining and blocked a potential game-winning extra point.

It spurred an amazing three-point swing. Instead of a 24-23 Saints lead, Simmons’ block led to a Will Parks defensive 2-point conversion after he returned the ball 75 yards to the opposite end zone. The Broncos won 25-23.

It was the first ever game-winning, blocked extra-point, defensive conversion. And it started with a simple question.

“Joe D. was like, ‘I heard you can jump?'” Simmons said of Broncos special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis. “And I said, ‘Yeah.’ ”

Simmons’ block was the logical conclusion to a series of small changes in the NFL. But it remains rare. It requires a perfect storm of events.

First, let’s go back to the beginning. Over time, NFL teams decided to specialize by hiring a long-snapper. His only job is to snap the ball on kicking plays. On regular offensive plays the center is a lineman. He’s required to snap the ball and block defenders. But on field goals and punts, because the role is so specialized, the snapper looks through his own legs, back to the holder or punter, instead of forward at the defense.

That leaves him vulnerable to taking a massive hit from a defensive lineman. So the NFL made it illegal to rush a long-snapper. And, defenders cannot be within a yard of the center at the snap. It gives him time to look up and defend himself.

“The only way to get a field goal blocked, against certain teams, is to go over the top,” DeCamillis said.

The Dick Fosbury of line leaps might be former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, who, in his eagerness to stuff a kick hurdled a Baltimore Ravens long-snapper in 2013. Polamalu mistimed his jump and was offside. But the idea was born.

Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor last season expanded the possibilities, leaping the snapper on back-to-back plays against Carolina in October.

So why don’t teams do this on every kick? The risk-reward ratio is often too great. The leaper is not allowed to propel himself off another player. And he can’t even touch the center. If Simmons had landed on top of the Saints long-snapper, the Broncos would have been penalized 15 yards. Early in games, that penalty can be significant. But the Broncos had nothing to gamble. Either they blocked the kick or lost the game. The penalty was toothless.

Timing was crucial. But there was more involved than circumstantial timing. Simmons needed to know how to time his jump. He did it by memorizing the Saints snap count. Related Articles November 16, 2016 4 Broncos Ring of Famers selected as Hall of Fame semifinalists for 2017

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“I was creeping up all game, coming up and going back,” Simmons said. “When I was creeping, I was getting a feel for it.”

Simmons was helped by Denver’s defensive ends, Jared Crick and Adam Gotsis, who, after the snap, pinned the Saints center to the ground, making Simmon’s leap easier.

“We just put our hands on him and made sure he didn’t get up,” Crick said. “As far as I know, it’s legal. If it’s not, they didn’t call it.”

The NFL’s vice president of officiating, Dean Blandino, recognized the confusion. He published a video this week explaining why it was a legal play.

“He’s going to get his hands up top on the snapper and push him towards the ground. That’s legal,” Blandino said. “Open-hand push. If there was a grab and a pull that would be defensive holding.”

If your eyes are crossed trying to weed through the fine print of the NFL rulebook, you are not alone. Some NFL coaches still have trouble accepting the idea. But DeCamillis, who talked about the possibility of a Broncos blocked kick last month, saw the perfect storm coming.

“You try to play the team that you are playing. If it’s there, sometimes you work it and sometimes you don’t,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes from there.”

Keys to the leap

Blocking a kick by leaping over the long-snapper remains rare in the NFL because it requires a perfect storm of circumstance and rules. How it happens:

1. The risk-reward ratio is steep. If a team messes it up, it can be penalized. It’s best to wait until there’s nothing left to lose.

2. The rules are specific and difficult. No defensive player can be within one yard of the center at the moment of the snap. He’s in a bubble.

3. The leaper is alone. He cannot touch the center with his hands or feet and no other player can help propel the leaper into the air.

4. Help is limited. Defensive linemen can pounce on the long-snapper, but only within limits. They cannot pull on the center or knock him back. They can only pin him down.

5. Two points are a nice carrot. The NFL in 2015 changed its rules on extra points, giving the defensive team two points if they return a turnover to the opposite end zone. Before then, a blocked kick was called dead.