Touchback/Safety penalty

[michrefdh]

Originally Posted by mbyron

Your answer seems to ignore the COP.

I'm assuming your referring to BigJohn above


c. A player on offense commits any foul for which the penalty is accepted and
enforcement is from a spot in his end zone; or throws an illegal forward
pass from his end zone and the penalty is declined in a situation which
leaves him in possession at the spot of the illegal pass and with the ball
having been forced into the end zone by the passing team.

But the defender wasn't on offense, they were on defense, so that wouldn't apply, but again the key even in that rule is who forced the ball into the endzone "illegal pass and with the ball having been forced into the end zone by the passing team."

In the situation, the original offense applied the force that put the ball into the endzone. If the defender caught the ball in the field of play, or exited the endzone then went back in, then its a safetly, but if he caught it in the endzone, and never brought it out, and the ball became dead there (upon the incomplete illegal forward pass hitting the ground), its a touchback.