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Originally Posted by Jim D
Yes but remember that a player can be both in bounds and out of bounds at the same time.
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For example, in scrambling for a ball, a player is lying on the ground and his legs are out of bounds and the rest of his body is inbounds. He is out of bounds to the point where if he touches the ball, it also becomes out of bounds, but he is inbounds to the point that he can legally participate and touch the ball.
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....which makes the ball dead.
His particular brand of "out of boundness" has no bearing on anything until he does something, does it?
In the original example, if a player goes out of bounds on his own, let's say the ball then hops over the sideline and touches him. The ball is dead because it touched something that is out of bounds.
I'd submit that in your example, you might be able to say that the player on the ground with his legs out of bounds has "gone out out bounds" and if he participates, it's illegal participation, couldn't you? I mean, in a scrum situation, you're probably not going to be so esoteric about it and throw your hat because #74 has his legs out of bounds and his upper body in bounds, but I suppose you could.
To my way of interpreting it (and I'm not a rules interpreter), you're in bounds or you're out of bounds. You may have no impact on the play by virtue of that standing, but I can't see how you can be both simultaneously.