Progress Stopped, or Play On?

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Rich

Maybe it was the ruling in 1942.

No, but you're on the right track. I was thinking of a CFL-specific rule, but I see now the criterion is more specific too, that "he cannot throw the ball". However, the wording I had in mind was much older and not particular to Canadian football but to rugby, concerning the standing tackle.

The criteria I would look for as to where & when the ball becomes dead are:

1. Did the runner stop moving in the direction he seemed to want to go in?

2. Did it become evident that the runner would not be able to break from the tackler's grasp, or would otherwise go down in possession of the ball?

Unless criterion 2 were met, I wouldn't rule that the ballcarrier's progress was "stopped". If criterion 1 were satisfied before criterion 2, then I would rule the ball dead at the place & time where criterion 1 was satisfied.

Meanwhile Fed's wording regarding forward handing, "the yard line where the runner is positioned", seems to assume the runner to be a single point mass! It would be absurd to interpret this on the basis of the foremost point of the runner, for the entire ball could never be ahead of that while in his possession, so what do you go by, his center of mass? Split the distance between his feet?