As I understand it, in order for a receiver to have possession in the field of play, he has to not be bobbling the ball and make a “football move” in order to be considered to have possession. If these criteria aren’t met and the ball falls to the ground, it can’t be a completion, therefore there can be no fumble.
My question is: Why isn’t this applied to the end zone? Sure it’s a TD as soon as the ball crosses the plane and an offensive player has possession. But in order to have possession, he’s got to make a “football move,” right? It seems to me that this “football move” stuff is all a bunch of hooey that Jerry Markbreit insists on “staying the course” with.
As somebody mentioned in the other thread, I guess I’m looking for internally consistent rules and that’s unlikely to happen.
I’m not up on the rules, but from what you say it seems consistent to me. The ‘football move’ establishes possession of a received pass, and possession + ball breaking the plane = touchdown. If no football move is made, then there was no possession, right?
No, you often have the situation where just catching the ball = possession in the endzone, no football move necessary. Particularly falling out of bounds. Unless the act of falling is considered a football move, which I don’t think it should be (and I can guarantee you that in the field of play, it’s not).
IANA referee, coach or anyone else who would have a reason to know football rules.
But I think Panama seems to have it. Possession + in end zone + ball across line = touchdown. You need a “football move” to establish possession, but you can do that before entering the end zone.
For catching in the end zone, I think in this case, a “football move” includes the pretty much any act of firmly establishing possession, such as clamping your hands down on it in anticipation of hitting the ground.
I believe the idea behind the rule is to essentially require that possession be conscious, so that, for instance, if an unconscious player lying on the ground has a pass land on their stomach and not roll off, it’s not a catch.
Or if in some bizarre bounce, a thrown ball gets caught in a player’s pads for a full second while moves down the field unaware of it, it should not be a catch because, while he had control of the ball, he didn’t make a “football move” with it.
If it’s a catch in the endzone as you fall out of bounds, it’ll be a catch at the 43. You have to meet the requirments of two feet in bounds and control of the ball. You don’t have to make any “football moves” before you fall down, but you will need to hold on to the ball when you hit the ground ( this is true in the endzone as much as anywhere else).
The “football move” hooey that the NFL uses is really for those catch-get pummeled by a DB-drop the ball plays where it is difficult to determine if you have a catch-fumble or no catch. In the endzone it shouldn’t be applied differently than anywhere else (but the NFL rulebook is not available online so I don’t know what the exact definition of football move is)
Just to clear it up a little, I was only referring to catching the ball in the endzone. Catching and running in makes perfect sense.
I don’t have a problem with the way it’s applied in the endzone. I think that’s the way it should be applied everywhere. You catch it, well, then you catch it. The football move hooey should be eliminated entirely. So it would lead to more fumbles, what’s the big deal with that. Should open up the scoring which the NFL loves everywhere else.
And apparently given the Seahawks-Broncos game last night, turning with the football with both feet on the ground is NOT a football move because you do not take a step.
If I remember the play correctly (and I may not) he was turning before he had full possession. Turning while bobbling the ball is not possession, as the receiver does not have control. At live speed, it looked like a fumble, but on review and in slow motion, it looked like an incomplete pass.
Back to the OP, should he still be around and reading these threads, falling while in possession of the football and retaining possession through the ground is a football move, both on the field and in the endzone.
I recall that play from a few years ago, where a receiver caught it in the end zone, fell down, rolled over (did I say that at this point he was on the ground?), only then losing possession. After a review, they called it incomplete, quoting rule and verse as the ref pontificated on the rationale involved. Even in normal speed looked to me like he had possession for half an (football) eternity…
That’s the one I thought of immediately. Megatron caught the ball in the endzone and immediately put the ball on the ground and ran out of the endzone to celebrate. The ref called it an incomplete because of his motion when he put the ball down.
You are remembering incorrectly and the referee was pedantic but ultimately correct that he did not make a football move although both feet were down and he had control of the ball - it is the rule that sucks. The definition of a football move is to take a step or dive for the sideline or a first down and so theoretically a receiver could catch a pass on the 1 yard line and stand there letting the clock wind down. No matter how long he stands there, if a defenseman hits him and the ball pops loose under the rules it is an incomplete pass.
And to answer the OP, the rationale is a football move is an attempt to move the ball, whether to advance it by running (taking a step) or diving OR to move the ball to the sideline (which stops the clock). Once the ball is in the endzone, there is no need to advance the ball and one could argue it is impossible to move the ball. It’s contradictions like that and like I pointed out (twisting your body is not an attempt to advance the ball?) that tells me the rule should be 2 feet down with control. I know the change was to avoid the bang-bang play where the ball pops out so maybe we can just add “tuck ball away with control” and for the OP “down the ball to the ground in the endzone”* to football moves.
*A “touchdown” comes from the old rule that you had to actually touch the ball down on the ground for the score to count. If you couldn’t then the score didn’t count. That is what the spike in the endzone represents.
That is where the word touchdown comes from, but the spike is not at all related to that. You never had to touch the ball down during my life of watching football (and that goes back to the 50s). Spiking was one of the first types of end zone celebration and didn’t come about until much later.
It’s also a football move if you maintain control of the ball long enough to make a football move, even if you don’t make one. The 2013 Official Playing Rules of the NFL, 8.1.3 covers the rules on a completed pass:
“Note 1: It is not necessary that he commit such an act, provided that he maintains control of the ball long enough to do so.”
Here’s the entire rule, which somewhat defines a “football move”:
COMPLETED OR INTERCEPTED PASS
Article 3 Completed or Intercepted Pass. A player who makes a catch may advance the ball. A forward pass is complete (by the offense) or intercepted (by the defense) if a player, who is inbounds:
(a) secures control of the ball in his hands or arms prior to the ball touching the ground; and
(b) touches the ground inbounds with both feet or with any part of his body other than his hands; and
Note 1: It is not necessary that he commit such an act, provided that he maintains control of the ball long enough to do so.
Note 2: If a player has control of the ball, a slight movement of the ball will not be considered a loss of possession. He must lose control of the ball in order to rule that there has been a loss of possession.