Legal snap?
- Thread starter gymrat10
- Start date
Per rule 2-32-14: "A snapper is the player who is facing his opponent's goal line with his shoulders approximately parallel thereto and who snaps the ball."
This makes a side snap impossible as the definition of a snap includes the following: (2-40-2) "... In a snap, the movement must be a quick and continuous backward motion of the ball..." The snapper has to be facing his opponent's goal line and can't move the ball in any direction except backwards.
Additionally, per rule 7-1-1 both of the snapper's feet have to be behind the neutral zone. For a snapper to execute a side snap like that, all his weight will be awkwardly distributed and make him easy pickings for a defender bull-rushing through.
This post was edited on 7/26 7:15 PM by Fadamor
This makes a side snap impossible as the definition of a snap includes the following: (2-40-2) "... In a snap, the movement must be a quick and continuous backward motion of the ball..." The snapper has to be facing his opponent's goal line and can't move the ball in any direction except backwards.
Additionally, per rule 7-1-1 both of the snapper's feet have to be behind the neutral zone. For a snapper to execute a side snap like that, all his weight will be awkwardly distributed and make him easy pickings for a defender bull-rushing through.
This post was edited on 7/26 7:15 PM by Fadamor
I have to disagree with your assessment that the rules make a side snap impossible.
Consider how the NFHS defines backward, as in backward pass. If it's not forward, it's backward. Nothing says the ball has to travel straight baskward at a 90 degree angle to the line of scrimmage.
The only side snaps I've seen have been on a muddle huddle where a snapper meets all the requirements listed above and makes one quick and continuous motion to send the ball to a player a few yards behind the line and 10-15 yards to the side. As long as the snap is to a player behind the line, it's a backward motion.
Consider how the NFHS defines backward, as in backward pass. If it's not forward, it's backward. Nothing says the ball has to travel straight baskward at a 90 degree angle to the line of scrimmage.
The only side snaps I've seen have been on a muddle huddle where a snapper meets all the requirements listed above and makes one quick and continuous motion to send the ball to a player a few yards behind the line and 10-15 yards to the side. As long as the snap is to a player behind the line, it's a backward motion.
That's not a snap FROM the side, that's a snap TO the side. There's a difference. When I read "from the side", I see a player either turning sideways or bringing the ball around the outside of the leg and back. It was this kind of snap I was responding to. FBRef's response - while technically correct in that a side snap CAN be legal, seemed to imply that any side snap is legal. I will back-off on the "makes it impossible" statement, however.
This post was edited on 7/28 9:33 AM by Fadamor
This post was edited on 7/28 9:33 AM by Fadamor
Fadamor, you're reading too much into it. Gymrat simply asked if the snap had to go through the legs or could it go to the side, meaning in front of the legs to the side. No one said anything about the snapper being turned in any position other than a legal position.
As for the side snap, by definition, any pass that is not forwards is backwards. Therefore, a snap parallel to the LOS would be a legal snap.
Since most posters here are fans, not officials, we try to not confuse things by becoming to legalistic. That's better saved for the officiating forums.
This post was edited on 7/28 2:27 PM by FBRef
As for the side snap, by definition, any pass that is not forwards is backwards. Therefore, a snap parallel to the LOS would be a legal snap.
Since most posters here are fans, not officials, we try to not confuse things by becoming to legalistic. That's better saved for the officiating forums.
This post was edited on 7/28 2:27 PM by FBRef
Yes, we are. By definition, a snap is backwards. So whether it goes through the snappers legs at a 90 degree angle or a 45 degree angle or it goes to the side at a 10 degree angle or a ZERO degree angle to the LOS, it is still legallly backwards.
If it doesn't go backwards, it's not a snap.
Similar threads
