Play question?

[Bob M.]

Originally posted by mcrowder
By that logic, ANY contact with the ball, however small, would constitute a NEW force. What are the rules in FED around this (what do those rules actually say)? I'm an NCAA guy trying to understand this.

REPLY: See tpaul's post (10/3 5:46pm) The Fed rules say that a new force may be added. It's solely in the covering official's judgement to determine if the contact with the ball was sufficient to put the ball across the goal line and that there was no reasonable expectation that it could have gotten there without the contact. As a counter-example, A fumbles at his own 5. Ball is rolling backwards toward A's goal line. B muffs the ball across the goal line where A recovers...or it rolls OOB behind the goal line. My ruling: Safety. I would not rule a new force if the ball was rolling toward A's goal line when B muffs it.