Please help settle a dispute!
 

Can you call intentional grounding on a pass deflected by on rushing lineman?

Why not?
 

If he isn't throwing to a receiver in the area he is still trying to avoid the loss of yardage from the sack.

would have to see the play. there is nothing that says you can't have intentional grounding. it would be a very hard call to make unless it was so obvious the quarterback was just throwing the ball to avoid a sack and a lineman happened to tip it.

I know he is trying to ask based on what happen in the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia game tonight.

The reality is that deflecting the does not exonerate a passer from that foul. The answer is it could help in making the call or not depending on what was done. In my opinion it was a good call and Ben Rothethsberger (sp?) was just dumping the ball. The ball never crossed the line of scrimmage (which is part of the NFL rule) and the Referee made a decision with some help from his crew.

Peace

Besides, Ol' Ben's knee was down before that throw. It would've been a safety after review anyway.

Yes J, I was referring to the Phila.-Pitt game. It was obvious that Ben was throwing the ball away but how can you say whether it would have made it to the line of scrimmage since it was tipped? I'm an Eagles fan from Philly and was watching with other Eagle fans and this play started a riot at my brother in laws house. If the defender had gotten a better piece of the ball and actually batted it down backwards, is that still grounding? Just seems silly to me since once the ball was tipped you could not determine how far the ball would have gone. His intent was to get rid of it, but if it reaches the line of scrimmage its ok. Anyway, thanks for the responses! peace

This is an NFL Rule (NCAA has a similar rule, and I do not believe tipping the ball matters either) and most have no idea what are the specifics of NFL Rules because we do not work that game. My guess is that it does not matter when you are throwing the ball away as it relates to "dumping" the ball. There are several factors to this rule and I would bet that tipping the ball is not one of them. And you are assuming that that was part of the consideration of the foul. Maybe Mike Pereira (sp?) will clear that up on Wednesday when he talks on the NFL Network.

Peace

The NFL/NAFL exception to intentional grounding where the QB is out of the pocket requires that the ball lands near or beyond the line of scrimmage. There is no allowance for whether it WOULD have landed at that point had it not been blocked by a defender.

So it is not IG to attempt to throw it to a receiver but then have it blocked but it is IG to attempt to throw it over the LOS, without a reasonable chance of completion, when out of the pocket but then have it blocked.

Canadian Ruling
 

CANADIAN RULING:

I would. If the ball was deflected right after the release, likely not. But if the ball is already well on it's way to the ground with no A eligible player nearby, or trying to get to the ball, and B touches the ball not right after the release and the ball's trajectory isn't altered much, I'd flag it.

However, it's very much a had to be there play.

The key to making a "dumping" call has always been looking into the passer's "soul" and judging his intent.

Can you? Yes. Should you? Not unless you're really, really sure! You would have to look in the direction of the pass beyond the rusher and decide that the passer had a good enough view beyond him to know that he was throwing the ball to nobody.

Robert