Intentional grounding penalty enforcement
 

We had a dispute amongst our crew the other night on how to enforce this penalty. Quarterback rolls out to his left, well out of the tackle box, and throws the ball out of bounds as he's getting pressured. White hat throws his flag for intentional grounding. The question then came up...is it 5 yards from the previous spot or five yards from the spot of the foul (i.e. where the ball was thrown)? The flag was laying about 5-7 yards behind the original LOS>

Since you mention the tacklebox, which ruleset? For Fed it is 5 yards from the spot of the foul plus loss of down. For NCAA, it is loss of down at the spot of the foul.

There are 2 times when the tackle box matters: in the NFL, and on the lake while fishing.

Forgot one.
 

It matters in college games too. ;)

Peace

FED: Basic spot is the previous spot, as this foul occurred during a loose-ball play. The foul by A occurred behind the basic spot; thus, under all-but-one, is penalized 5 yards from the spot of the foul, plus loss of down.
Being outside of the tackle box does not matter, in FED there is no such thing as a "tackle box"

Sorry...NFHS rules.

I don't honestly remember as I haven't looked at Fed rules in a few years but is an illegal forward pass considered a loose ball play?

Basic spot foul- was a foul by offense behind the previous spot.

Remember 10-3-1, 10-3-3

A loose-ball play is action during:

b. A legal forward pass.



The end of the run is:

b. Where the runner loses possession if his run is followed by a loose ball

IFP beyond the the LOS is enforced from the EOR.

I don't remember 10-3-1, 10-3-3 hence why I asked. My Fed rule knowledge has gotten quite rusty. :)

So in other words, it is not a loose ball play. It's a matter of semantics since the enforcement spot is the same but I thought that tidbit of information was tucked somewhere in a crevice of my brain.

Correct, it's treated as a run play. That's why I threw in the part about IFP. I.e, QB throws pass 2 yards beyond LOS, he gets the yardage gained on the run but is penalized from the spot, essentially the EOR.

Behind the line, foul will be assessed from there.

I didn't really mean for you to actually remember the rule cite, figure of speech.:D

Yep, you're right, an illegal pass is not considered to be a loose ball play... my mistake.

Of course, Welpe said, it's a rather unimportant distinction on this play, since the enforcement is the same either way.

Well, it's usually unimportant. But A can get a new series on an IFP play! Run more than 5 yards past the LTG, throw an IFP, and even the 5 yard penalty from the end of the run will leave you with a first down.

That wouldn't happen with previous spot enforcement under ABO.