I’ll have to look up the rule ( I was expecting a “Cite please” response) but I believe the spike rule applies only when the snap is not in shot gun formation (To QB or Holder). Hence, when attempting a kick a field goal you wil always be in shot gun formation so you will not be able to spike the ball.
I believe that is the jist of it but I will look for the offical NFL rule.
FYI, I didn’t realize this at the time either. Todays NY Daily News claified it for me.
Since he was outside the tackle throwing the ball at the ground is allowed whether you call it a spike or not. It would just be an incomplete pass.
Looks like you’re right, NYR:
But by the time he got outside the tackle, the Giants had an illegal receiver downfield. The claim that’s been made is that he should have spiked the ball as soon as he got hold of it after the bad snap-but that would have been illegal.
And you know what? He still couldn’t just spike it. Even when you’re outside the tackles, the ball still has to cross the line of scrimmage, or you’ll be called for intentional grounding anyway:
(From NFL.com
Remember, there were only 9 seconds on the clock at the start of the play! Could the holder recover from the terrible snap, run outside the tackles, and heave the ball far enough to hit the ground past the line of scrimmage? (Even if one of the linemen hadn’t released by then?) I dunno …
I can not find the Offical NFL Rules anywhere on line. Anyone help on this?
Anyway to top it off, I can’t find the reference on the Daily News web site that mentions the rule. So I will quote what In read in the paper related to this rule.
Question: “Could Allen have spiked the ball, as Fox announcer Cris Collinsworth told a national television audience - or could he have thrown the ball away?”
Answer: “According to NFL Rules , Collinsworth was wrong on that count, but Allen could have stopped the clock by throwing an incomplete pass. Since it was thrid down, the Giants could have then attempted the field goal again, assuming there was still time on the clock.”
“Mike Pereira, the NFL’s director of officiating, confirmed last night that only the quarterback taking a snap directly from center is allowed to spike the ball. A quarterback in shotgun formation or a holder on a field goal can’t. If he did it would have been intentional grounding, there would have been a 10 second run off on the clock and the game would have been over.”
This snipit is the only one I have read that gives Mike Pereira as a source for confimation. I think the articles I have read (ESPN included) either believed Collinsworth or were unaware of the offical rule.
Again sorry I can’t give any offical rule # or link but that is what my morning paper said.
D’oh, on preview I see that others already backed up the rule.
Thanks all.
What happens if the holder chucks it at the o-line, and beans one of his tackles? Is that a penalty? Too risky of it bouncing up and being intercepted? Throw it (forward) at the kicker and have him not catch it?
Other than throwing it out of bounds, what were his options?
I’ve got too much work to do to keep looking up rules, so you’ll have to find your own cite, Munch. 
But if the first offensive player to touch the ball (even unintentionally) after it is thrown is not an eligible receiver, that is indeed a penalty on the offense. The holder’s options were (a) throw it immediately in the general vicinity of an actual receiver, (b) run outside the box and throw the ball out of bounds, or (c) throw or run for a touchdown. Those are all very low-percentage plays, especially since the linemen are expected to release and head downfield about two seconds after the snap, expecting the kick to be in the air. The best bet is for the snapper to actually get the ball to the holder.
(Last year, I would have suggested sucking up a penalty to stop the clock, hoping your kicker could hit from 5 yards further out. As unlikely as that probably seems, given the Giants’ kicking game. But offensive penalties in the final minute now cost 10 seconds, and they only had 9 to start with …)
Fucking Collinsworth. I knew I shouldn’t have listened to that stupid ass.
If you go to www.espn.com scroll down a bit and click on the “Official say” link, an NFL official gives a scenario in which the clock could have been stopped with time left. He explained that, if the holder had spiked the ball it would have been intentional grounding. However, if the kicker had gone down on a knee and said “I’m down” the clock could have been stopped, and the kick attempted.
This is another good explanation from cbs sportsline.
It seems most everyone gets that the spike would not have been legal, but let me pick another nit.
The “fault” for the play, IMO lies not with the holder but with the O-Line. This is a common misconception:
That is true on a punt, but not on a field goal attempt. Linemen are taught during the “fire” drill (botched place kick) to remain behind the LOS, because the holder will attempt a forward pass.
In the situation Sunday, basically no matter where the holder threw it, the Giants would have been penalized for ineligible receivers downfield.
So the O-linemen should never have relased downfield, assuming the holder and/or kicker yelled “fire” or whatever the Giant’s signal was.
Couldn’t he just throw it through the uprights for 3? 
Not entirely true. In the case with the Giants yesterday Seubert (the player “interfered” with) and Petigout, both O-linemen, were eligible receivers because they both were on opposite sides of the field goal formation, uncovered by wide receivers.
However, Chris Bober and Tam Hopkins were also down field (around the 8 yard line) during the play. So while Seubert was eligible there were other ineligible players in the area.
FYI, this was also addressed by the NY Daily News in the same article that I can’t find on their web site. I do not pretend to know the NFL rules that well.
Bottom line, the Defense is to blame for the loss. The long snapper muffing it and the holder not knowing what to do only cost them the game because of the massive defensive breakdown. That play should never have existed in the first place.
One point away from a George Washington Bridge Bowl! DAMN!!
OK, so we would have had to find a better name for it, but it would have been fun. And the economy needed the jolt.
Didn’t matter what he did as long as he stopped the damn clock with time left. Throwing it out of bounds would have been the fastest way. And that’s even after not getting the hold down, which he did have time to do.
He sucks as a punter, too. Adios, dude - and take your special-teams coordinator with you, 'cause you both choked.
Regarding all this talk about “Can the holder spike tbe ball?”–The placekicker is an eligible receiver. All Allen had to do was dink a little two-foot forward pass off of the kicker’s leg and into the ground and he could have gotten the clock stopped well before six seconds expired. Alternatively, he could have thrown the ball at the feet of one of his blocking backs, who are also eligible receivers.
But I have another question: Why wasn’t defensive pass interference called? If there are offsetting penalties as time expires, an extension down is played. The only reason I can see is if the player interfered with was an ineligible receiver (in which case there is no penalty). But was he? Was Seubert actually the guy taken down, and per the above was he eligible as an end-man on the line? As #65, doesn’t he have to report in? Did he?
Good points, racekarl and NYR. I wonder whether the holder didn’t call the signal, or the linemen didn’t hear it? I didn’t notice any signals, but that was probably because I was on the floor, laughing. Oh, and NYR, when a team blows a 24-point lead, there’s plenty of blame to go around. The defense certainly has the lion’s share, but you have to wonder what the offense was up to during that 25-0 run. I think, though, that the place-kicking game justifiably has some spotlight, not because their mistake came last, but because it showed gross incompetence by alleged professional ballplayers. If the kicker had just missed the field goal, well, that’s bad, but he shouldn’t have been in that position. The botched snap, followed by a game-ending penalty? :eek: It was like Abbot and Costello Meet The 49’ers out there.
Just think, if the Giants had played during the first 59 minutes with as many mental errors per minute as they had in the last 1 minute, they would have lost 152-0. Unless all their players had been ejected before the 49ers had been able to run the score up that high.
The rule is that ineligible man downfield trumps defensive pass interference.
Because how can you interfere with a guy who wasn’t supposed to be there anyway?
Since I am not a Giants fan, I got to enjoy the weird little nuclear-meltdown ending of that game as a comic spectacle. I laughed and laughed and laughed. And then I laughed some more. It was just so very SILLY.
“Oh! I just got a personal foul for knocking this guy around. That was bad for my team. I guess I’ll do it again!”
To quote a wiser man: “D’Oh!”
Did anyone else notice Michael Strahan appearing to get fellated on the sidelines before the final field goal?
As a Niner fan, I’m happy for them, but once again T.O. embarrasses the hell out of me. I can’t stand unprofessionalism of any kind in the NFL, especially the Playoffs. Of course, that includes Strahan pointing up at the scoreboard, and Shockey doing the “shh” gesture…eat a bite of crow, fellas.