Illegal Forward Pass?

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by The Roamin' Umpire

Art. 2 ... An illegal forward pass is a foul. The illegal forward passes are:
a. A pass after team possession has changed during the down.
b. A pass from beyond the neutral zone.
c. A pass intentionally thrown into an area not occupied by an eligible offensive receiver.
d. A pass intentionally thrown incomplete to save loss of yardage or to conserve time. [spiking exception]
e. A second or subsequent forward pass thrown during a down.
[more articles follow, not relevant]

And even e is only a couple years old. Well, actually much older than that, but it was "on the bench" for about 60 years in Fed.

What's interesting is that art. 1 references foot position of the passer rather than ball position at the origin of the pass: "...a player of A throws the ball with both feet of the passer in or behind the neutral zone when the ball is released." Considering how fast the ball may be moving at the point of release, and that the front foot is likely to be planted on the ground, foot position is probably an easier call. Even if it's a jump pass, it's probably an easier call.

Robert