Illegal Forward Pass Ruling in MIN-GB Game

[JasonTX]

The ball has to be thrown to an area where an eligible receiver has a reasonable oppurtunity to catch the pass. In this play that receiver was't even close in my opinion to having an oppurtunity to catch the pass.

[MJT]

I am talking to one of the officials on the crew on Tuesday. I am looking forward to seeing what the discussion was. He was involved in the conversation they had as he was one of the wings. I sent him a text and he replied that as he was getting off his plane 2nt and to call him Tuesday. I hope he will allow me to share their conversation on the board to clear it up.

[SportsFan]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

Intentional grounding is an illegal forward pass.

The pass did not make it back to the LOS, so even if he's outside the tackle box, it's still IG.

Previous obvious call IMO.

How is intentional grounding the same as an illegal forward pass? They are enforced differently and have different signals.

[MJT]

Originally Posted by SportsFan

How is intentional grounding the same as an illegal forward pass? They are enforced differently and have different signals.

IG is one of the types of IFP's. It has it's one signal, but is a type of IFP.

[LDUB]

Originally Posted by SportsFan

How is intentional grounding the same as an illegal forward pass? They are enforced differently and have different signals.

Intentional grounding is a type of illegal forward pass. Under Federation rules all illegal forward passes have the penalty. NCAA is slightly different as passes thrown to conserve yardage are peanlized different than passes thrown to conserve time or thrown from beyond the neutral zone and such. But still, they are all types of illegal forward passes.

[SportsFan]

Originally Posted by MJT

IG is one of the types of IFP's. It has it's one signal, but is a type of IFP.

Yes, but why did the referee say IFP this time. Isn't it standard protocol in the NFL to call it intentional grounding?

EDIT: The official for the game was Alberto Riveron. This is his first year as referee, so I probably haven't heard him before. I suppose he likes to call all IFPs like that, but he had several Fox analysts confused, including Troy Aikman and Michael Strahan.

[PackersFTW]

Originally Posted by jontheref

No doubt IG---throwing a pass in an effort to avoid a loss of yardage. I dont have a problem with the call. The explaination yes....the call no.

so anytime somebody throws a pass to avoid a loss of yardage, that's intentional grounding? that's what you make it sound like. qb's "throw the ball away" all the time, which is perfectly legal as long as you are either outside the pocket or there is a receiver in the area. troy aikman said that both occurred. this was a crap call, and i'm going to watch for that show where they debate bad calls on nfl network. no doubt he will say it was a bad call.

[PackersFTW]

Originally Posted by MJT

Not only did he throw the pass only to save yardage, but he had no idea there was a receiver in the area. He never looked up at all, he just got the ball and threw it underhand as he as falling to the ground in the EZ, which he knew would be a safety, so he was trying to avoid it with his pass. The ball never got to the LOS. It was the correct call.

you cannot officiate intent, you should know this. it looked like he was just trying to avoid a safety? that's exactly what he was doing. nothing wrong with this. if there is something wrong with this, then there is something wrong with every time a qb scrambles out of the pocket and whips it 20 yards downfield out of bounds, or throws it at a receivers feet to avoid a sack. if there is a receiver in the area OR the qb is out of the pocket and the ball goes past the line of scrimmage, it is legal. he clearly didn't get it to the line of scrimmage, but i believe there was somebody in the area. i base this on the fact that i have seen throws where there is a receiver damn near 10 yards away and they say "receiver in the area".

i agree that something just didn't look right, and that you shouldn't be allowed to do that, but the fact is that qb's throw passes that end up up to 10 yards away from a receiver all the time, and they don't call ****.

regardless, "illegal forward pass" was the wrong call. you cannot argue that was an illegal forward pass. therefor the ref was wrong.

[PackersFTW]

Originally Posted by MJT

IG is one of the types of IFP's. It has it's one signal, but is a type of IFP.

yes, but according to that logic, the ref could say "illegal play" or something even more general, because technically IG is an IFP which is an illegal play. refs are very specific in the calls, they wouldn't give some generic call like that. i've heard refs explain things in detail many times, sometimes taking as many as 4 sentences for a call. also, it's 10 yards and loss of down for IG, but IFP has a different penalty (too lazy to look it up).

Originally Posted by SportsFan

Yes, but why did the referee say IFP this time. Isn't it standard protocol in the NFL to call it intentional grounding?

EDIT: The official for the game was Alberto Riveron. This is his first year as referee, so I probably haven't heard him before. I suppose he likes to call all IFPs like that, but he had several Fox analysts confused, including Troy Aikman and Michael Strahan.

you are correct. see the above.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by SportsFan

I suppose he likes to call all IFPs like that, but he had several Fox analysts confused, including Troy Aikman and Michael Strahan.

Oh come on, a ball of string could confuse those guys.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by Umpmazza

No the referee gave the signal and said " illegal forward pass"

Which part of my post didn't you understand?

[MJT]

Hum, your callname is PackersFTW, and you think it was all wrong.

[OverAndBack]

On one of the replays from behind the QB, you could see #84 and one could assume that the QB may have seen him. That's being liberal, because it seemed like his intent was to chuck that sucker out of there.

[waltjp]

Don't feed the trolls.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by PackersFTW

so anytime somebody throws a pass to avoid a loss of yardage, that's intentional grounding? that's what you make it sound like. qb's "throw the ball away" all the time, which is perfectly legal as long as you are either outside the pocket or there is a receiver in the area. troy aikman said that both occurred. this was a crap call, and i'm going to watch for that show where they debate bad calls on nfl network. no doubt he will say it was a bad call.

PACKER fan, do you have any opinion about the ball not making it to the LOS?