Touchback or Down on 1

[AndrewMcCarthy]

I always ask myself- where was the ball is when it became dead?

Per NF rules the ball becomes dead when "a runner is held so his forward progress is stopped."

Forward progress is defined as "the end of advancement of the ball in a runner’s possession... toward the opponent’s goal and determines the dead-ball spot."

From this I believe you have to give them the ball at the 1. The rules do not include any type of special exception for this play.

[Forksref]

My exception is common sense. If he made no effort to leave the EZ, I have a TB. I see this as no different than a runner on a scrimmage play advancing from his EZ to the 1 and then being pushed back into the EZ. He didn't cause the ball to go back into the EZ, so there is not safety, and, in the above-mentioned play, the player who intercepted the ball did not cause the ball to leave the EZ. TB

[AndrewMcCarthy]

Originally Posted by Forksref

My exception is common sense. If he made no effort to leave the EZ, I have a TB. I see this as no different than a runner on a scrimmage play advancing from his EZ to the 1 and then being pushed back into the EZ. He didn't cause the ball to go back into the EZ, so there is not safety, and, in the above-mentioned play, the player who intercepted the ball did not cause the ball to leave the EZ. TB

The key difference being that your ruling in your play is backed up by the rules while your ruling on the play above is not. On your play a live ball never went back into the end zone because it became dead when his forward progress was stopped at the 1.

[HawkeyeCubP]

Originally Posted by Forksref

If he made no effort to leave the EZ,

This is a dangerous, and misleading, rule-wise, statement, when talking about the endzone and getting out of it, in my experience. I once heard a long-time varsity-level umpire make a statement on a runner making "effort to leave the end zone" related to whether or not he was going to call a safety on that player if they were then downed in the end zone.

Originally Posted by AndrewMcCarthy

I always ask myself- where was the ball is when it became dead?

Per NF rules the ball becomes dead when "a runner is held so his forward progress is stopped."

Forward progress is defined as "the end of advancement of the ball in a runner’s possession... toward the opponent’s goal and determines the dead-ball spot."

From this I believe you have to give them the ball at the 1.

Agreed.

[baldgriff]

While I agree that this would be correct by the letter of the law, I dont think it is fair to penalize the intercepting team for getting pushed out of the endzone after making a good play.

[AndrewMcCarthy]

Originally Posted by baldgriff

While I agree that this would be correct by the letter of the law, I dont think it is fair to penalize the intercepting team for getting pushed out of the endzone after making a good play.

Isn't pushing the runner out of the end zone considered to be a good play?

[mcrowder]

If a runner was being pushed forward and made a first down because of it, you'd obviously give him the ball at the forward spot. There's no difference on this play. Where did the ball become dead? The 1. That's where it goes. Read all of your rules about touchbacks - none of them apply to this situation. This one's very black and white. Simple non-TB.