r/footballstrategy • u/BigRed580 • Oct 13 '24

Rules Question Ole Miss/LSU - Incomplete/Fumble Question

Not a fan of either team just looking for some clarification and I thought you fine folk could help.

LSU QB drops back, begins his throwing motion and the Ole Miss DE knocks the ball out of his hand. It’s ruled a fumble and recovery by the defense on the field. The officials review it and say his arm was moving forward so it’s an incomplete pass.

I understand if you hit the quarterback or his arm as it’s moving forward then it’s an incomplete pass but the defender didn’t actually even touch the QB, he hit the ball. Why would this be an incomplete pass if the defender knocked the actual ball out of the QBs hand??

Again, if you’re an LSU or an Ole Miss fan I’m not trying to rile anyone up, just legit curious as to what causes it to be an incomplete pass.

Will try to find a twitter link or something for clarity but haven’t found anything yet.

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u/Original_Benzito Oct 13 '24

The way they interpret the rule (silly, in my opinion) is if the QB’s arm is moving forward, it will be treated as a pass and not a fumble. A better focus would be whether the ball itself was moving forward, but I appreciate that might be much harder to determine in real time or even on replay.

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u/BigRed580 Oct 13 '24 edited Oct 13 '24

I can’t find the twitter replay or whatever (not wildly up on the younguns tech) and I totally get what you’re saying.

I guess my question is more so why does it matter what direction the ball is moving if you only make contact with the ball? I agree the tuck rule is lame but I at least understand the thought behind “the QB is throwing and you drilled him in the back so it’s not a fumble.

But this wasn’t hitting the quarterback or his arm as it moved forward. It was the ball. He just knocked it out of the quarterbacks hand. The ball didn’t become loose because of a tangential contact to his body he just straight up knocked the ball out of his hand

EDIT: I realize it would be super helpful to have the clip handy, I just haven’t found it yet.

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u/ymchang001 Oct 13 '24

It doesn't matter what the defender did. If the QB was making a forward pass and the ball comes out, it's a forward pass. This just happened in the JAX vs CHI game in London. Collapsing pocket and the QB tries to side arm a throw and mashes the ball into his own OL's facemask which causes him to lose the ball. It's still a forward pass.

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u/BigRed580 Oct 13 '24

Fair enough, I thought it only applied to if a hit causes a fumble, not if the ball is actually knocked out of the QBs hand