"Illegal Bat"

[mercalnd]

Quote: Originally Posted by MassNole

No, you cannot purposefully bat the ball out of bounds to retain possession. That is the exact penalty Steve Young was called for in the game I referenced earlier.

It happened this year as well. I don't remember who the Broncos were playing but there was a fumble and Selvin Young just dove at it and clearly batted it out of bounds to keep the other team from recovering. He was called for a penalty (I think it was a 15 yarder) but at least they got to keep the ball.

[MassNole]

Quote: Originally Posted by spectralfan

It happened this year as well. I don't remember who the Broncos were playing but there was a fumble and Selvin Young just dove at it and clearly batted it out of bounds to keep the other team from recovering. He was called for a penalty (I think it was a 15 yarder) but at least they got to keep the ball.

That's the stupid part of the rule, I think it should be an automatic turnover and possession given either where the contact occurred or where the ball went out of bounds.

[ComfortablyLomb]

Quote: Originally Posted by MassNole

That's the stupid part of the rule, I think it should be an automatic turnover and possession given either where the contact occurred or where the ball went out of bounds.

You can't assume the other team would pick it up.

[SPTO]

Talk about serendipity, this very rule came up in an old NFL game I watched yesterday afternoon! The Packers were playing the Falcons in '83 and one of the Packers players had been tackled and as he was falling he shoved the ball toward the end zone where a teamate caught it but it was ruled ineligible because of the "illegal bat" rule!

I immediately thought of this thread when that happened.

[MassNole]

Quote: Originally Posted by ComfortablyLomb

You can't assume the other team would pick it up.

Nor can you assume the team who bats it out of bounds retains possession. Actually the fact they intentionally batted it out of bounds would be more conclusive they didn't think they'd retain possession.

[Cardot]

Quote: Originally Posted by Flyboy

I don't know about that one. I've seen this one done many times to preserve possession.

I also seem to recall several times where offensive players near the sideline swatted a ball out of bounds without a penalty being called. But on the NFL website, it is listed as a 10 yard penalty. As others have mentioned, I am not sure why there wasn't a flag against Moorman in the game against Cleveland for kicking the ball out of the endzone for the safety???

http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/penaltysummaries

10 Yards
5. Deliberately batting or punching a loose ball.
6. Deliberately kicking a loose ball.

[heitkamp94]

Quote: Originally Posted by TJdaSportsGuy

Must not be a rule about kicking the ball out of bounds intentionally because during the Bills-Browns game this year, a high snap to Bills' punter Brian Moorman was intentionally booted out of the back of the end zone to avoid a defensive TD. The ruling was a safety and there was no penalty given on the play.

Thats cuz its a safety, its a little loophole in the rule and really the penalty wouldn't have done much anway since its already a loss of possesion.

[bronxct1]

Quote: Originally Posted by MassNole

No, you cannot purposefully bat the ball out of bounds to retain possession. That is the exact penalty Steve Young was called for in the game I referenced earlier.

thats wrong, they went over this on NFL network and the head of officiating stated that you can bat the ball backwards or side to side and it will not be a penalty. But once you swipe at the ball and it goes foward it is a penalty no matter what.

He even said the refs did not think Smith intentionally tried to bat it foward, but intention does not matter. If it goes foward at all it is a penalty.

He even said if he would have batted it out of bounds there would not have been a penalty.