rolling short snap

[Robert Goodman]

At times it may be easier for a snapper to learn to roll the ball back a short distance than to develop a separate aerial snap to a back at short range. The ball is not left on the ground any longer than needed for the back to pick it up. Suppose you see this in a game and have not been warned by the coach. Would you treat a snap rolled a short distance to a back, if it's a consideration under the rules they're using, as a planned loose ball in the vicinity of the snapper?

What if before the game in a coach's conference it was explained to you that the rolling short snap was a regular technique they use, not to make it seem to the other team like a foul-up, but just to deliver the ball?

Robert

[MJT]

I think that would be insanely stupid to do. I don't know how you could be consistant doing that? If it doesn't roll perfectly back, it will wobble and not go straight back or as far back. That being said, it would be legal as long as a back picked it up. The planned loose ball option has been removed, but when it was legal, it was a special situation for an A player on his LOS.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by MJT

I think that would be insanely stupid to do. I don't know how you could be consistant doing that? If it doesn't roll perfectly back, it will wobble and not go straight back or as far back.

Nevertheless, it has been advocated by those who want to make sure the snap isn't high or hard when players are inexperienced (kids, mostly). And nobody's talking about snapping it far back that way, just a yard or two -- although I once saw in the NFL Films weekly highlights the Bears (or another Central Div. team) roll the snap back 5 yards or maybe more to a blocking back in punt formation. It came end over end and may not have been intentional.

Robert