By studying both angles of the replay it's obvious
he released before the fifty and antwan harris
caught it beyond the fifty.

Can someone post the complete and official nfl rule on backward passes.(not the digest version that appears on
nfl.com)

there are some people who think that as long as troy
did not "pass" it forward in relation to his body it's legal.
they think his forward momentum carried the ball forward
and that the "rules" take that into account.

Sorry, but I don't have a NFL rulebook.
However, the only thing that matters is the initial direction of the pass.
If it's backwards or parallel to the goal line, then it's a backwards pass.
If you underhand a football backwards out of the bed of a moving pickup truck, do you think the ball will land behind or beyond the spot where it was released?
Obviously, it will land beyond where it was released.
But it was passed backwards.
The pass was from a player in front to a player behind him.
It was a backwards pass.

BTW, there's no such thing as a lateral.
A pass is either a backwards pass or a forward pass.

BBR:

Great explanation.

"BTW, there's no such thing as a lateral.
A pass is either a backwards pass or a forward pass."

Thank you. I was beginning to think I was the only one who made this definition. "Lateral" is a term used by the media, and every time I hear an announcer use it, I scream at my TV set.

Bob