Proper spot and down?

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

The more you talk, the more I suspect you've never been on the field or possibly even watched a game on TV. Seems to me that when a player dives on a football - MOST of the time, it squirts somewhere. Especially if that ball was still moving.

I coach. Probably the problem here is that we have in mind different standards for the control of the ball required for player possession.

If I saw a player actually fall on a ball that was on the ground, unless the player wound up with some strange part of the body like his back or his legs on top of it, I'd consider that moment of trapping of the ball between body and ground possession. I don't think it does any good for the game to encourage opposing players to pile on top in the hope that the add'l pressure will cause the ball to squirt out, or to try to fish under a player's body for the ball. If you do, then it becomes completely arbitrary as to when you kill the ball and try to determine who got control of it first. A ball sandwich -- ground, ball, frame of player -- is a bright line you can rule on, instead of the muddy line you'll probably get if you allow play to continue. Sure, you could get lucky and have it pop right into some player's hands, but the great majority of the time you'll wind up with a pileup and take a guess.