Proper spot and down?

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

But if I were officiating, I'd never want to have to draw the line on how much control a player whose body is on top of and in contact with the ball has. When play continues in that situation, it hardly ever leads to a clear-cut resolution of who first controlled it. It usually winds up between bodies, often with a struggle continuing for some time.

Well ... to be honest, if you were officiating, you would have had some modicum of training. This would likely disabuse you of this sillyness.

You could whistle on the assumption that someone must have possession of it, but then how is your presumption any better than mine as laid out above?

Ditto.

Where does it say that in the rules? It just says "held or controlled"; it doesn't say how.

I was trying to help you, not get into a thesaurus discussion. You don't want the help, that's fine by me - just don't try to put on the stripes.