[mikesears]

I agree that the discussion is good. I appreciate the question because it does make us get into the book. It really makes us all work on understanding definitions and rules.



The reason I recommended removing the incomplete pass from the equation is that we would have Team A in possession of the ball behind the line to gain.

Here is the play without that. 4/10 from the A-20. A1 punts the ball high and short. B1 attempts to catch the punt the at the A-28 and muffs the ball. A2 recovers the muffed punt at the A-18 and advances to the A-22.

Whose ball is it? If we want to argue that A is in possession of the ball behind the line to gain, it would be B's ball. But no rules knowledgable official would make that ruling because of the rule regarding B touching a scrimmage kick beyond the ENZ.

I don't see how adding an ADDITIONAL act of an imcomplete pass changes this. Still had a scrimmage kick that B touched beyond the ENZ.


Am I making sense in what I am trying to hilight here?


The rule doesn't say that after an incomplete pass on 4th down, the ball belongs to B. It says that if the ball belongs to A behind the line to gain, B is awarded a new series. It doesn't matter why the ball is behind the line to gain. If it is returned to the previous spot because of an incomplete pass or if A fails to run it beyond the line to gain, it never got there. So, I humbly assert that the specific rule regarding B touching a scrimmage kick beyond the line to gain takes precedence over the general rule regarding A not making the line to gain.





[Edited by mikesears on Mar 9th, 2005 at 12:41 PM]