re: The "worst rule in football" isn't wrong at all.

Posted on 1/21/21 at 4:29 pm to WaterLink

Posted by noles25

Destin, FL

Member since Nov 2014

495 posts

Posted on 1/21/21 at 4:29 pm to WaterLink

quote:
So the offense CAN get extra yards on loose ball situations.The reason it stays at the spot of the fumble on OOB fumbles is because fumbling out of bounds doesn't give the defense a chance to recover so it would be cheap extra yards so that's why that exception is put in place.

No, the offense cannot gain yards on a loose ball play, which is when the ball goes out of bounds and not possessed in the example we are using. Yes, of course the offense can pick the ball up and have the yards that are either beyond or behind the line of scrimmage.

Cheap extra yards? So what about if the the defense attempts to recover the ball and they are the force that cause the ball to go out of bounds?

quote:
Once the loose ball crosses the endzone though, it's no longer the field of play and that exception is lifted.

Are you stating that the endzone is not considered in the field of play?

This post was edited on 1/21/21 at 4:33 pm

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Posted by WaterLink

Baton Rouge

Member since Sep 2015

17346 posts

Posted on 1/21/21 at 9:27 pm to noles25

quote:
Cheap extra yards? So what about if the the defense attempts to recover the ball and they are the force that cause the ball to go out of bounds?

That's not what the exception for fumbling OOB in the field of play is there for, it's there to prevent intentional fumbles. It would be too convoluted to try to judge intent, so even if it isn't intentionally fumbled the rule still applies.

quote:
Are you stating that the endzone is not considered in the field of play?

Whatever terminology you want to use, the endzone is different than in between the goal lines because when the ball is advanced past the endzone, the drive is over. Recovering in the endzone results in a score, and recovering in between the endzones results in possession right there by whoever recovers it (assuming it isn't 4th down or under 2 minute recovery by the offense).

Think of it this way. You fumble and it goes forward. If the offense recovers, they gain the yards (unless 4th down or under 2 minutes). If it goes OOB the ball is still considered being advanced (because obviously if it's recovered in bounds they get it at the recovery spot, so it's always being advanced as a live ball) until it goes OOB, then the play is dead and because it went OOB, the exception kicks in and returns it to the fumble spot to prevent dudes from intentionally fumbling it a couple of yards OOB where the defense has no chance to recover and teams could get first downs via fumbling forward OOB, do you want that?

But we've established that while the fumbled live ball is still in bounds, it's still being advanced. And when it's advanced past the goal line and into the endzone, then the exception for OOB is lifted because the endzone is the endgame of any drive, there's no more advancement needed to be made unlike trying to gain first downs. And by going OOB, it has been advanced into the endzone and the possession ends, just like any other advancement of the ball into the endzone.

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Posted by 62zip