Yes the rule for a passer mentions legal forward pass, and the rule concerning roughing the passer does indeed refer to a passer, though not the legality of the pass....with that said, the guy that threw the illegal pass, still gets some protection from me. We won't have RTP but the same contact that warrants RTP will be unnecessary roughness in my game. My reasoning is that the thrower of the pass considers themself a passer, and will most likely act like a passer, and the defender will think of him as a passer, and if he hits a player whom he thinks is a passer in a way that would be RTP then he will get a flag from me. Now again with all that said, it would have to be an obvious RTP, if it is a love tap that may or may not be in a normal situation, it won't be here....
now I have to get down off of the fence, all this riding of the fence is giving me splinters in unmetionable places LOL