What exactly is intentional grounding? Often when the quarterback drops back for a pass and he sees a defender bearing down on him, he’ll throw the ball away to avoid the sack. Most of the time it’s okay, but sometimes they will get this penalty and I don’t really see the difference.
If the quarterback is in the pocket, he needs to make a (forward) throw that could plausibly have gone to a receiver. It’s a judgement call for the referees, but if the quarterback (in the pocket) makes a forward “pass” someplace where there isn’t anybody for a twenty yard radius in order to avoid a sack, he’ll probably get called for it. Generally, the refs give him benefit of the doubt, unless it’s glaring. The official rules are here.
Thanks for the link. So, whether or not the QB is in the pocket is the key. That explains why this weekend I saw a QB in one game throw the ball to about the 15th row of the grandstands (they were near the end zone) and not get penalized, since he was out of the pocket.
I am not a hardcore fan, but…
I belive they rewrote the rules a couple years ago to more accurately define where the pocket was – I think they said it was between the tackles. (The position tackle that is.)
muttrox is right. The rule for QB’s in the pocket exists so that a defense that succeeds in getting to him can be rewarded for doing so with yardage. If there were no penalty, the QB could avoid a loss of yardage by grounding the ball. The rule was lifted for QB’s scrambling because so many of them were getting injured that way that the game was suffering. The defense has not gotten to the QB (yet) if he’s out of the pocket, so they don’t deserve the yardage (yet).
Even QB’s that were getting sacked in the traditional manly way were getting badly injured too often, so the grasp-and-control rule was put in place - you don’t have to tackle the guy, just get a good hold on him, and you can actually be penalized if you tackle him anyway when you don’t have to.
I would add that in college football, there is no such thing as “in the grasp” or “outside the pocket” and the intentional grounding is pretty much just the old rule where the QB is penalized if he deliberately throws an incompletion nowhere near a receiver to avoid a loss.
It’s worth pointing out that quarterbacks regularly throw the ball away, either out of bounds or out of the end zone, once it’s clear that no receiver is open. But referees will never call that “intentional grounding.”
Only when it’s clear that the quarterback who made the desperation pass was about to be sacked will a referee throw a flag. That is, a quarterback can be penalized for trying to avoid a big loss- but it’s okay if the qb just decides, “Oh well, nothing doing on this play, let’s just throw the ball away and go back to the drawing board.”
Also, it is only intentional grounding when the quarterback is grounding to avoid being sacked. If he is grounding to stop the clock, it is not a penalty.