2nd and 8, ball on the defender’s 35. Shotgun formation, ball snaps, QB drops back, Looks for the WR screen, throws the ball (laterally or behind) way off target and nails the opposing team’s head coach smack in the face. The head coach (let’s call him “Pete”) has decided to ignore the rules of the game and is standing 15 yards from the sidelines in the middle of the field.
Is the ball live or dead? The coach is not part of the field (like a ref), so it’s not automatically a live ball. Is the ref forced to call a penalty on the coach for being on the field of play? What’s the ruling?
The ref shouldn’t blow the play dead. The play should continue to its natural resolution and then a 15 year penalty assessed against the defense from the end of the play. If, for example, the defense picked the ball up and ran it back for the touchdown, the ref can negate that and penalize the defense as appropriate.
