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I have always believed that in order for an ineligible to legally be in the expanded neutral zone (beyond the neutral zone) before a legal forward pass is in flight, he had to be blocking a B lineman. If he is beyond the neutral zone otherwise he is illegally downfield. But the rule (7-5-12) doesn't say this. It says "Inelegible A players may not advance beyond the EXPANDED neutral zone ..." Did something get changed or was I just mistaken? The statement made later in the same article "An ineligible is not illegally downfield if, at the snap, he immediately contacts a B lineman and the contact does not continue beyond the expanded neutral zone" seems superfluous to the first statement, i.e., he wouldn't be illegally downfield until he was beyond the expanded neutral zone in any case. What am I missing?
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