Forward Pass
 

K free kicks to R. R1 throws a IFP at the 15 yard line. The pass is incomplete. I spotted the ball after penalty enforcement at the K10. What if the ball was intercepted and can the ball be advanced?thanks

Illegal forward passes can be intercepted and returned. Also, if the IFP was caught by A, the ball remains live and it can be advanced (of course, it will come back because of the foul).

Had a guy try to convince us recently that we should not blow this dead if it was incomplete, and that if defense recovered the incomplete illegal forward pass, it should be treated as a fumble.

Ugh.

Illegal pass/illegal kick. Aren't those similar enough.:rolleyes:

Wow, I'll have to remember that the next time I have an Intentional Grounding call, never thought of it as a fumble before.:eek: :eek:

JimD: Just a rule 2 FYI: the designators A/K and B/R do not change during a down. In your example you have "A" catching the illegal pass, I know you really meant you had "R" or "B" catching this pass.

No, I think he meant A because after that he said that it would be coming back due to the foul. However your point is correct about B as B can return this as far as they can and keep possession.

Canadian Ruling
 

Perhaps the "guy" was a Canadian official under which this is true. Only incomplete forward passes (those thrown or intended to be thrown from behind the line of scrimmage) are blown dead when incomplete. Any other ball thrown forward is called an offside pass and if it hits the ground (I won't use the term incomplete) the ball is still alive and could be recovered and advanced. The non-offending team will have the option of the offside pass penalty which returns the ball to where it was thrown from.

Just to clarify
 

K freekicks to R. R throws IFP at R20.
1. K catches R's throw. It's K's ball whereever ball is dead provided they decline IFP.
2. R catches R's ball. It will be R's ball 1/10 at R10 after enforcement of penalty regardless of what R does (with exception of fumble).

Soooooo, an ungrounded IFP is a live ball. Once it hits the ground, it's an incomplete pass. Enforcement spot is spot where ball was thrown.

<< I need to study some more. :confused: >>

Anybody else see the Panthers-Steelers game last night.

Steelers returning a punt, R1 slides down, is untouched, gets up and spikes the ball, thinking he was down. I'm thinking "That's an IFP." I didn't see a flag and I didn't hear a whistle. But they killed the play after someone recovered it, got together, and made the correct IFP call.

BTW, the idiot TV announcers were adamant that they got it wrong. :(