Forward Progress on Pass Play

[Jim S]

Gentlemen, the term is forward progress. Where would he be without the contact?
If the contact stops the forward progress award the yardage. In this case it dosen't Why would we give the receiver extra yardage that he hasn't earned?
Now you may decide that he would come down somewhere between the 28 & 30. Give him that if you will, but unless you think he can stop in mid air when he is moving in any direction the spot where the contact is made is not a hard spot.
Take the same pass at the sideline where the receiver lands OB. The rules on a catch require that the receiver would have returned inbounds if the contact had not occured. The mere fact that there was contact does NOT take away this requirement. So if we were to award forward progress in the middle of the field, we would also do so at the sideline. And this is demonstrably not so.