You make the call '16 No. 7

[White hat]

Team A is ahead by 4 points with 10 seconds remaining. Team B used its final time out to stop the clock..

Team A has the ball 3rd and 14 from the 50 and is in victory formation.

The snap is and the ball is dropped. B55 picks up the ball and runs. At the A 5 yard line B55 is grabbed by an A player, so he pitches the ball to B44 at the A 1 yard line. B44 scores. Time expires during the down.

What are the options?

 

[onlylabs]

Illegal forward pass by B55. 5 yard penalty from where B55 tossed it so one untimed down from the A10.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Illegal forward pass, score does not count, game over.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Illegal forward pass by B55. 5 yard penalty from where B55 tossed it so one untimed down from the A10.

How could B be given an untimed down? If that was the case, commit the penalty anywhere on the field before you get tackled, and get another down. Not challenging you, just curious. PS, I haven't been right yet, so I'm sure I'm in left field again.

 

[onlylabs]

Good question. I will amend answer to say A has option (going back to White hat's question now seeing he asks "what are options?") of declining penalty and game is over or accepting penalty of illegal forward pass and then my original answer. But gotta admit either answer seems to cut and dry....seems there is always some nuance of the rules I don't know in these questions that makes my suspected answers incorrect!

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Coach White Hat likes to make us twist in the wind!

 

[White hat]

There are always options. Usually it's accept or decline. In a couple of very rare cases, the options lead to the same iutcome, as was the case in the play FBRef posted where the result of the play was a safety and the result of accepting the penalty was a safety.

This play will not result in a safety no matter how you slice it.

I'll give it another day to see if we can shake an opinion out of anyone else, even if it's just to say they agree with your guesses.

 

[White hat]

OK, here's the answer.

If A declines the foul, B scores and the game is over. Obviously this will not happen.

If A accepts the foul, B's score is negated and the game is over, so the answer is obvious.

Now for the devil in the details:

Normally, a period cannot end on an accepted foul when time expires during the play. There will be one untimed down. UNLESS the penalty for the foul also carries the loss of down stipulation. So a period CAN end on an illegal forward pass.

This play is brought into question because the loss of down doesn't really apply after a change of possession. If the defense takes possession and keeps it through the end of the play, they will have first down regardless whether they threw an incomplete pass or not -- we're not going to call it second down. (The loss of down is actually a misnomer -- it's really the loss of the right to replay the down. Without the foul, the down would count anyway, so not much is being lost.)

The rules stipulate that, even though a loss of down penalty after a change of possession does not actually include the loss of a down. it is penalized the same with regard to extending a period.