Illegal Forward Pass

[mikesears]

Originally posted by largeone59
so if the defense accepts the illegal forward pass penalty, is this a loss of down?

Yes it is loss of down unless the offense (Team
A) reached the line-to-gain AFTER the penalty is enforced.


Case play.

1/10 on A's 20. A1 runs to a) A's 24 or b) A's 40 and he throws an illegal forward pass to A2. The pass falls to the ground and is incomplete.

In a) if the penalty is accepted, it is enforced from the A-24 and the loss of down is also enforced. A's ball 2/11 at the A-19. If this had been 4th down, B would have taken possession of the ball at the A-19.


In b) if the penalty is accepted, it is enforced from the A-40. It would be A's ball 1/10 from the A-35 because they reached the line-to-gain after the penalty was enforced. A new series can never start with any down but 1st down. The loss of down aspect is ignored in this case. If this had occured on 4th down, A would still have a 1st and ten because they reached the line-to-gain even after the penalty is enforced.