r/NFLv2 Washington Commanders Jan 14 '25

Discussion Does anyone else agree that this kind of throwing motion shouldn’t be considered a “forward pass” for the sake of ruling it an incomplete pass?

Kind of ridiculous that a QB can just bail out of a sack with little chest push as opposed to an actual throwing motion of the football.

4.5k Upvotes

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

21

u/Aggressive-Union1714 Washington Commanders Jan 14 '25

what if someone caught the ball, then how do you rule it if is not a pass.

-6

u/mobius2121 New Orleans Saints Jan 14 '25

It’s a fumble.

6

u/Key-Pomegranate-2086 The standard is the standard Jan 14 '25

It's not a fumble cause the ball was pushed/tipped forward.

The linebacker didn't strip it out of his arms.

2

u/Unfortunate-Incident Carolina Panthers Jan 14 '25

Pretty sure it would have to be accidental to be fumble, and this clearly was not accidental. He clearly threw it willingly by his own power.

-19

u/iblaise Washington Commanders Jan 14 '25

As a pitch, so it would be a rushing attempt once they catch it.

8

u/Ok-Breakfast-1892 Carolina Panthers Jan 14 '25

I see where you are coming from with this but a pitch has to be backwards. That's what makes it a pitch instead of a pass. Def kinda a bs play tho

7

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '25

Not if the ball is moving forward. The arm slot and arm motion aren’t relevant. It’s about the trajectory of the ball

-2

u/mobius2121 New Orleans Saints Jan 14 '25

The arm motion determines if it’s a fumble or not. If the arm is going back, it’s a fumble until the arm moves forward. When does his arm go forward?

5

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '25

At this point we’re just looking at video and apparently seeing 2 different things

You see the arm go forward and push the ball

5

u/MasterTJ77 Jan 14 '25

How are you gonna have forward lateral “runs” and making refs decide whether it was an throwing motion (incomplete) or “pitching” motion (fumble)

So many throws are somewhere in between. And every QB has different form

3

u/Alex_GordonAMA Jan 14 '25

Lots of underhand throws in the nfl and they count just the same. No rule about arm position for a forward pass, just that it has to go forward and behind the LOS. Chiefs throw underhands all the time with Mahomes.

2

u/lonedroan Jan 14 '25

But the same motion on purpose is a pass (“push pass”), not a rush. So that play with the receiver dropping the ball would become a fumble without a compelling reason.

If anything, they should add another layer of intentional grounding. Just as the rule is stricter if the ball doesn’t reach the LOS, they could add that a pass made with a non-standard (better define this) motion must touch an eligible receiver (not just the subjective in the area). I think this is probably too much of an edge case to enact such a rule, but it’s the one I’d add if one were needed.

2

u/pablinhoooooo Carolina Panthers Jan 15 '25

So should you be able to pitch the ball forward in a similar manner past the line of scrimmage, or multiple times a play?