Roughing or not Study Group ? #1

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

Nonsense.

At the receiver's feet, even deliberately, is still throwing it at a receiver. Even if you judge that he threw it at the feet intentionally, that doesn't make it illegal - you don't know with 100% certainty that this pass was thrown to save yards. We've seen QB's throw a pass to a specific spot so it's not picked. There's no way for you to be in this QB's head and KNOW that's not the case here. If the ball HITS his feet and comes up, it can still be caught. You absolutely, unequivocally do NOT have an illegal pass just because it was thrown at feet.

Let me try, one more time, IF you reach a conclusion that the passer deliberately intended the pass to be incomplete (dumped the pass)- it is a foul, under the NFHS code, for an illegal pass. When you make that judgment, you have no choice but to flag it.

To not flag it, is a disservice to the defensive team who has done their job. If you honestly doubt that the incompletion was intentional, that is an entirely different matter. To judge ANY pass being intentionally thrown to be incomplete not only do you have to look into a passer's head, you often have to see clear through to his soul, but that's your job.