illegal forward pass

[Warrenkicker]

Patton has it correct above. Any pass which is illegally thrown is part of a running play and not the standard loose-ball play. The penalty for an illegal pass is enforced from the spot of the foul. If the penalty is declined then the end of the run is the spot of the foul and the ball will next be snapped from that spot.

This is one situation where you might say the penalty is not very severe but the foul was also not very severe. A did run for all of those yards and has to give 5 back for something stupid. Mark off 5 yards from the spot of the foul and see if the line-to-gain was reached. If it was then the loss-of-down has no meaning.