Roughing the passer

[mikesears]

Originally posted by michaelpr
Weird situation.
If a quarterback pitches a backwards pass to the wide reciever (where the wide receiver now becomes the passer) and he runs up to the line of scrimmage and throws a pass. Then a defensive lineman nails him. Do we have roughing the passer? When does the quarter back cease from being the passer? What is meant by becoming part of the play (as far as not getting protection)?

At all levels, anyone who throws a forward pass is a passer and as such, anyone who throws a forward pass is protected by the roughing the passer rules. Roughing is a judgment call all the way.

By high school (FED) rules, defenders must make an effort to avoiding charging into a passer who has clearly thrown a forward pass.