Legal or Illegal batting?

[boboman316]

4/10 from K20.......K punts, shanks it, short kick that crossed the
LOS, and hits the ground at the K40..... R is yelling poison and all R
players clear out the area. K comes down and looks like he is going to down
the ball and BAT's it forward. BJ has a bean bag but no flag......then
blows his whistle..R now picks it up and start running with it then stops
(IW here). What do you have? Where would the ball be put in play?

[BoBo]

Well we have a few things here

1. Throw a beanbag at first touching is good.

2. If you say the ball was batted forward at the first touching then you can throw a flag instead of the bag. (Probably one of those things you need to see but will go with your description of BATTING)

3. The ball is not dead yet and the kick has not ended yet.

4. R may advance the ball at his own risk.

5. Runner stops and now the whistle blow IW now you have a big mess.

With IW team R will have the choices here since they are in last possesion of the ball when the whistle was blown.

Their options are

1. Take the result of the play which would be take the ball where the whistle was blown.

2. If they take the penalty for the illegal batting then the acceptance of the penalty would make the IW obsolete (like it never happened)

3. Accepting the penalty for illegal batting which is 15 yards. In this case it is during a loose ball play by K, 15yards from the previous spot and replay fourth down.

That is how this play is going through my mind without a book in front of me right now.

[FootballRef05]

Great explaniation BoBo -

One thing to keep in mind is the flag saves your a$$ when you have an IW. Depending on where the ball became dead R may just elect to take the result of the play or replay the down. Your options are right on the money. The BJ should have had a flag down as soon as the K player Illegally batted the ball.

[MJT]

BoBo and FootballRef05, you are incorrect in a few things you mentioned.

R is not in possession when the whistle is blown, K is still in team possession.

You said R can take the result of the play which would be take the ball where the whistle was blown. This is not true cuz if an IW occurs during a legal forward pass or kick there is no option, the ball is returned to the PS and the down is replayed. Now the penalty does add another option. Since K fouled, R can accept the penalty and have the penalty enforced from the PS. If R declines the foul, the down MUST be replayed, so obviously they will accept the penalty cuz at least then they move them back 15 yards for the 4th down play.

How to properly handle IW's is pretty important cuz to do so wrongly can have quite drastic consequences.

[FeetBallRef]

MJT nailed it.

[BoBo]

4/10 from K20.......K punts, shanks it, short kick that crossed the
LOS, and hits the ground at the K40..... R is yelling poison and all R
players clear out the area. K comes down and looks like he is going to down
the ball and BAT's it forward. BJ has a bean bag but no flag......then
blows his whistle..R now picks it up and start running with it then stops
(IW here). What do you have? Where would the ball be put in play?


MJT the way i was reading this was the IW was occuring after the ball was picked up as i have highlighted in red.

But after rereading i can see where one can interpret the IW before the ball being picked up.

If you really read the play you can see 2 IWs here.

As I read i feel i gave the right results/options and as you read you gave the correcti results/options.

Good job Iowa officials