Roughing or not Study Group ? #1

[ajmc]

Forgive me if I'm not making myself clear enough. The issue I'm trying to convey is not determining whether the pass was deliberately incompleted or not, becuaue the question STATED that it was thrown at the receivers feet, which would make that a deliberate act.

I agree that it is extremely difficult to make that judgment, as there are numerous factors that may point in a different direction, but if an official does make that judgment (that the pass was intentionally incompleted) it must be a foul.

Under the NFHS code Table 7-5-2-d lists, "A pass intentionally thrown to save yardage or to conserve time is an illegal pass. Other than the unique exception of a passer intentionally throwing the ball forward to the ground immediately after receiving a direct hand to hand snap, to conserve time, a passer can never, legally, intentionally incomplete a forward pass.

Your philosophy about how and why the rules are mutually adjusted to deal with rulings that coaches may be unhappy about may be acceptable in your area, but doesn't apply to such decisions in States I've worked in.

Consistency is always a goal, but the notion that similar plays are always alike and should therefore be called a certain, specific way is at best an illusion.