Spotting the ball

[ozzy4873]

I've never gotten a good explanation for this...Anybody here that can tell me the exact answers?

I can't tell from the official NFL rules:

Player’s forward progress is stopped at the one-half yard line. At the time forward progress is stopped, he has the ball extended over the goal-line, but out-of-bounds (outside the pylon). Is this a Touchdown? If not, where is the ball spotted?

Player is holding the ball in his outside hand and steps on the sideline. At the time he steps on the sideline, he has the ball extended over the first-down line, but out-of-bounds. His foot is short of the first down marker. Is this a first down? Where is the ball spotted?

Player dives head first near the sideline. When he leaves his feet, the ball is short of the first down marker and his feet are in-bounds. The player lands out of bounds, the ball touches the ground before any part of his body, with the ball extended more than a yard beyond the marker. However, the ball crossed the plane of the SIDELINE just shy of the first down marker. Where is the ball spotted? Is there a “plane of the sideline” rule at all?


The rulebook says that the ball is generally spotted where it went out of bounds. But, it also says that the ball isn’t considered dead or out of bounds until it is in the possession of a player who is out of bounds, or touches something out of bounds. So, it isn’t clear exactly where the ball should be spotted to me.

[Snake~eyes]

Originally posted by ozzy4873
Player’s forward progress is stopped at the one-half yard line. At the time forward progress is stopped, he has the ball extended over the goal-line, but out-of-bounds (outside the pylon). Is this a Touchdown? If not, where is the ball spotted?

Touchdown, since his feet were inbounds he can hold the ball over the extended goalline. If he were diving, off the ground, he would not get the extended goal line

Originally posted by ozzy4873
Player is holding the ball in his outside hand and steps on the sideline. At the time he steps on the sideline, he has the ball extended over the first-down line, but out-of-bounds. His foot is short of the first down marker. Is this a first down? Where is the ball spotted?

Ball is spotted where it is when he steps OOB.

Originally posted by ozzy4873
Player dives head first near the sideline. When he leaves his feet, the ball is short of the first down marker and his feet are in-bounds. The player lands out of bounds, the ball touches the ground before any part of his body, with the ball extended more than a yard beyond the marker. However, the ball crossed the plane of the SIDELINE just shy of the first down marker. Where is the ball spotted? Is there a “plane of the sideline” rule at all?

In an instance where a player dives, the ball is brought back to where it crossed the OOB plane.




Hope that helps.