BAG IT....or not?

[PSU213]

Originally posted by cowbyfan1
Yes it is a loose ball play but the team had possesion of the ball and lost it. What difference does it make if it is the exchange between the center and the QB or the QB and the RB? Team had it, team lost it, it's a fumble. To me the muff comes more when a team is intentionally giving up possesion like on a punt play or kickoff and the player muffs it then.. The "muffing" team never had possesion prior to the muff and thus in this case it is not a fumble and no reason to bag it.
Besides 2-26 "A muff is the touching or accidental kicking of a loose ball in an unsuccessful attempt to secure possession." Like I said, possession is already established before the snap was botched.

No, its is not a fumble. Rule 10-3-1c: "A loose-ball play is action during: A backward pass (including the snap), illegal kick or fumble made by A from in or behind the neutral zone and prior to a change of team posession."

As for the muffing issue, Rule 2-1-3, in part: "A loose ball is a pass, kick, or fumble. The terms 'pass,' 'fumble,' and 'kick' are sometimes used as abbreviations when the ball is loose following the acts of passing, fumbling, or kicking the ball."

The definition of a muff does not imply anything about who had or who is trying to gain possession of the ball, and it does not imply anything about how the ball "became" loose (i.e. intentionally or unintentionally), just that it became loose by a method mentioned in 2-1-3. If the ball is loose and someone (from either team) touches it while trying to gain possession, its a muff.