Why does the NFL make it so easy to just throw the ball away to avoid a sack? Seems kind of like cheating to me. I know there are certain rules, but isn’t it obvious when a QB throws anywhere just to avoid getting sacked?
The QB can’t simply throw the ball away at any time. He has to throw within range of an eligible receiver, or be scrambling and outside of the tackle box. If he throws it away and neither one of those is the case, the QB will be penalized for intentional grounding.
Ok, I can see the part about throwing within range of an eligible receiver, but not the part about scrambling and outside of the tackle box. Is there a reason for that part?
IIRC it is to protect the QB. Scrambling is when they can be badly hurt and giving them the option of throwing the ball away (usually out of bounds) helps prevent injuries.
Why is it a problem? Yeah, there are fewer sacks this way than there would be without throwing the ball away, but is there some number of sacks that there “should” be, and we’re falling short?
What sucks is that the NFL rule makes high school passers think they can toss the ball away “outside the tackle box” and often their coaches think so, too.
There’s little excuse for the QB and none at all for the coach not knowing. This is not really an obscure rule. In any case once a coach’s team is called for this once in his career, he should know it and instruct his QBs in subsequent years.
It’s not that it makes for fewer sacks, its that it just seems like an easy out of a bad situation.
Getting out of the pocket isn’t always easy. Once you are out of the pocket you probably have your own momentum as well as the defender’s that will factor into any impact. Sliding is likely not an option since you are probably scrambling more than sprinting.
As it is, intentional grounding is rarely called. When it is, it is because a passer is often ‘in the grasp’ and makes a lame toss. you rarely see IG called when a QB throws the ball out of bounds even if the ball goes nowhere near a defender.
Incorrect. A QB can, without fear of being called for intentional grounding, throw a ball a trillion miles away out of bounds, just as long as the ball has been thrown at or beyond the line of scrimmage.
But only if they are outside the pocket.
What’s the rule on “spiking” the ball? Where is the line between a legal spike and illegal intentional grounding?
It’s also not just avoiding a sack, it’s avoiding lost yardage. If it’s first and ten and the defense pushes the QB and his line back 8 yards and he gets sacked it’s now 2nd and 18. If he throws it away it’s 2nd and 10.
Note that it’s also the NCAA rule as well - and has been since at least 2006 (that’s as far back as my rules archive goes).
Also, even if the coaches know the rules, chances are that the fans don’t - a lesson learned as a high school PA announcer for over 20 years. (Example: in the NFL and college, the kicking team can catch an onside kick before it touches the ground if it goes at least 10 yards; in high school, it has to touch the ground first. The home team caught one in the air; the officials correctly gave the ball to the receiving team. Quite a few people in the crowd on the home team’s side let the officials have it in no uncertain terms - at least until I quieted the loudest one down by showing him in the rulebook where the rule was different.)
The spike has to be pretty much immediate - I think the QB is allowed one step back. It’s a judgment call, but in most cases it’s obvious. (And yes, there have been times when teams have faked a spike - but if the QB fakes a spike and then spikes it, it’s intentional grounding.)
I still think I’m right.
I remember that happening a couple years back after Caleb Hanie replaced Cutler against the Raiders. He went to fake spike it, realized no one else on the offense was expecting a fake spike, and then actually spiked it. He got the penalty which included a ten second run-off, and lost the game.
I don’t like the spike rule. Didn’t it used to be that the QB had to throw the ball in the direction of an eligible receiver? What was wrong with that?
I don’t think anything was wrong with that, but it’s a quick way to stop the clock at the cost of a down. It makes for more exciting games (IMHO) which is the purpose of many of the rules. This is, after all, entertainment.
Technically, you might well be, but I am pretty certain no ref is ever going to call an actual pass out of bounds as IG unless they are winging sideways out of bounds when they realize their scramble is going to lose yardage. It takes a lot to get an IG call.
The loss of down isn’t inconsequential. It’s apporpriate and pretty significant when it happens on 3rd down.