Quote:
Originally Posted by rockyroad
Maybe I'm missing your point here, but wouldn't you at least wait to make sure it was a pass? Or is that one of those things that is so obvious that you just didn't put it in your post?
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REPLY: Correct...
you do not throw the flag until the pass crosses the neutral zone. Up until that point, you have no foul.
But...The way the
original play is described, I believe you might have ineligibles downfield. I don't believe there's enough information to decide. Here's the wording of the rule
7-5-12: "Ineligible A players may not advance beyond the expanded neutral zone on a legal forward pass play before a legal forward pass that crosses the neutral zone is in flight. If B touches the pass in or behind the neutral zone, this restriction is terminated. An ineligible is not illegally downfield if, at the snap, he immediately contacts a B lineman and the contact does not continue beyond the expanded neutral zone."
The first sentence says nothing more than ineligibles are
not allowed to go beyond the expanded neutral zone before the pass is in flight...ever. That's all it says. It does
not say that they're always allowed
into the expanded neutral zone. If it did, the last sentence would be unnecessary, and you'd have a much simpler rule.
What the last sentence does is qualify that the only ineligibles who are allowed beyond the neutral zone and into the expanded neutral zone are those who have initiated blocks against a B lineman and driven him into the expanded neutral zone. An ineligible A player who goes into the ENZ without blocking an opponent there is guilty of being illegally downfield when the pass is thrown. Therefore, you have five individual cases to evaluate--one for each ineligible: Was he beyond the NZ? If so, did he block an opponent there? And finally, did he go beyond the ENZ?
Since phansen's original play simply said that they blocked defenders and then let them through, you can't fully determine if a foul has been committed. If they blocked them into the ENZ and then let them through, everything's fine. But if they simply blocked at the LOS, let them through, and then stepped up into the ENZ, they're going to be guilty of ineligible downfield when the pass crosses the neutral zone.