Quote:
Originally Posted by ajmc
The exception under NF: 4.2.2.a, to a live ball becoming dead, "When a runner.....allows any part of his person other than hand or foot to touch the ground" allows "the place kick holder with his knee(s) on the ground with a teammate in kicking position to catch or recover the snap while his knee(s) is on the ground and "places the ball for a kick, or if he rises to advance, hand kick or pass".
The exception does not allow him to "place the ball on the ground", so his doing so would not be covered by the "Exception" and the ball would be dead because his knee was on the ground while he was in possession of a live ball.
|
That's what I thought, but it seems funny when you consider instead the situation where, instead of deliberately leaving the ball on the ground (which doesn't meet the Fed or NCAA definition of "pass", BTW), he simply loses control of the ball after placing it for the ostensible kick and play proceeds more or less as previously described, maybe without the bootleg fake.
And now consider the situation where he catches the snap with at least one knee on the ground and then fumbles
before he can place it for a kick or arise to continue play elsewise.
So in cx with those other cases, I'm not so sure about the ball's being dead if it's intentionally left loose on the ground. In that case, we've seen that he never intended to do any of the things listed in the exception, but the rule seems not to depend on his intention -- it says "places...or rises" rather than "intends to place...or rise". But then if you don't rule on his intention, it would seem the ball would have to be dead in the last case I brought up -- fumbling with knee down before the ball is placed -- and does anyone want to rule it dead in that situation? So it calls into question the rules committee's intent, which casts doubt on the case I first set forth.
Robert in the Bronx