[jfurdell]

Originally posted by mikesears
Question 2:

3/25 @ A-7. A1 lines up behind center in shotgun formation. A55 snaps the ball the A1 and the ball rebounds high into the air after hitting A1 directly in the helmet. Just after the ball strikes the ground at the A-3, it takes a funny bounce away from A's goal line (so it is rolling forward), when B99 muffs tries to pick the ball up and muffs the ball back into A's endzone where A1 falls on the ball.

Ruling on this play?

Touchback, because the B player supplied the force that sent the loose ball into A's endzone, where A recovered.

Basically, force helps you figure out whether a ball that becomes dead in a team's end zone and in possession of that team is a touchback or a safety. Force determines who is responsible for putting the ball there. If the team in possession forced the ball into its own end zone, it's a safety; if the other team forced the ball in, it's a touchback.

Initial force is easy to determine. If a player on the team in possession carries, fumbles, kicks, passes or snaps the ball into his own end zone, he is responsible for forcing the ball there.

Example 1: A1 snaps the ball over the head of A2. It sails into the end zone, where A2 falls on it. A supplied the force that put the ball into the end zone (the snap), and is still in team possession, so it's a safety.

New force is a little bit trickier. A player can supply new force to a loose ball via a bat, illegal kick or muff, but only after the ball has hit the ground in the field of play.

Example 2: A2 takes the snap and passes backward to his left. Unfortunately for him, defender B1 has charged into the backfield, and he manages to bat the pass in mid-flight. The ball bounces at A's 2-yard line, then rolls into the end zone and knocks over a pylon.

Ruling: still a safety! Even though B1 batted the ball in the field of play, and caused it to roll back into the end zone, he did not technically supply a new force because the ball didn't touch the ground first. Therefore, A2 is still responsible for forcing the ball into the end zone with his backward pass. If the backward pass had hit the ground before B1 batted it, it would have been a touchback.