Illegal forward what???

[mbyron]

This play cannot be forward handing, legal or otherwise, because it's not handing: the ball was thrown. 2-19-1 defines handing in terms of the ball remaining in contact with a player as it is transferred. This would have been important if a foul had occurred while the ball was loose.

Since it was thrown forward (toward the opponent's end line), it's a forward pass (2-31). Since the thrower (not a passer) was beyond the NZ, it's an illegal forward pass (7-5-2). And since the pass was incomplete, it's an incomplete forward pass and thus dead (4-2-2c).