Illegal Batting?

[mikesears]

Originally posted by stripes1977
This fits the description of a muff. "A muff is the touching ... of a loose ball by a player in an unsuccessful attempt to secure possession." And muffing the ball isn't illegal.


But in this case, wasn't he successful in his attempt to secure the ball? We just don't have "possession" because he didn't return to the ground.

I had this thought a little while ago: If we treat this as a fumble, then wouldn't this be considered an intentional fumble forward? And without the benefit of having my books in front of me...is this a foul in NFHS?

This is exactly why I wanted to post this on here, because this is the same type of circle we started running into.

The key part of the sentence is secure "POSSESSION".

An airborn player does not possess the ball until he completes a catch. (Rule 2-4-1, Rule 2-32-1)


It isn't a fumble because a player who does not have possession of the ball cannot fumble (Football Fundamental I-5 and Rule 2-18.)

I think I know where you are going, but picking nits again, it isn't illegal to fumble the ball forward. It is illegal to pass the ball forward when beyond the line of scrimmage. If it happened behind the line of scrimmage, we have an incomplete pass.

An INTENTIONAL fumble forward is a forward pass and treated as such.



[Edited by mikesears on Jun 17th, 2003 at 01:07 PM]