RULES, REGULATIONS AND COACHING POINTS - WEEK 4

What could have been?  Chris Bell 68 yard touchdown reception ruled out by the width of his shoe leather.  Against Minnesota this week in the second quarter, Malik Willis scrambled to his right to avoid pressure, Chris Bell sees his QB in trouble and tries to find an opening to help him.  Unfortunately, Bell loses his footing and in the process of righting himself and avoiding tight coverage, steps out of bounds by the slimmest of margins then becomes open to receive the pass from Willis.  The NFL rule is quite specific, an eligible receiver becomes an ineligible receiver when –

 

‘an eligible receiver who has been out of bounds prior to or during a pass, either by his own volition or by being legally forced out, even if he has re-established himself inbounds with both feet or with any part of his body other than his hands’

 

Why does the whistle not stop play?  In this instance it was not because the play was about to be ruled an ‘illegal touching’ penalty, or that it was so close to call the official needed to make sure.  Illegal touching is allowed by rule to let the play continue and the ball remains live so that any potential loss of yards, fumble recovery or anything that might help the defence allows the defence to choose to decline the penalty if there is a favourable outcome or accept the penalty if there is no benefit to the defence.

 

For info, ineligible receivers are mainly interior linemen who wear non eligible numbers unless they report to the referee that they are now eligible and line up in an eligible position.  Eligible players who do not have to declare must wear 0-49 or 80-89 and be lined up correctly.