Quote:
Originally Posted by jTheUmp
As Welpe said, it's a commonly accepted philosophy rather than an official 'rule'... the theory is that there's no advantage gained by Team A in this situation.
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If that theory is correct, it would also apply to any other forward pass that goes beyond the neutral zone before becoming incomplete. Now that I think about it, allowing the option of a penalty for ineligibles downfield on an incomplete pass does seem like an extra bite of the apple. If the defense defended successfully against completion of the pass, what advantage did team A gain by ineligible receivers downfield?