Intentional grounding

In gridiron football, intentional grounding is a violation of the rules in which "a passer...throws a forward pass without a realistic chance of completion."^[1] This typically happens when a quarterback about to be sacked passes the ball toward an area of the field with no eligible receiver. Were it not for this rule, the quarterback could easily turn the sack into an incomplete pass which, by rule, would advance the ball back to the line of scrimmage.

Elements

A ball carrier, in any location, commits intentional grounding when throwing a pass that does not reach the line of scrimmage; for instance, throwing the football down near himself. An exception is that the quarterback is allowed to spike the ball immediately after receiving it from the center. At the cost of a down, this is a way to stop the clock that a team may use when it has no time outs left.

Intentional grounding is also called if all of the following components are present:

• Imminent pressure. If the passer does not face "imminent loss of yardage,"^[1] then there is no penalty. It is not a violation when the passer is not about to be tackled but simply misses his receiver because the receiver fails to run the route the quarterback expects.
• Location. The quarterback must be inside the "tackle box," the area between the two offensive tackles on the line. If the quarterback scrambles to either side and is closer to the sideline than that side's tackle lined up, there is no penalty.
• Target of the pass. The ball must be passed where there is no eligible receiver, such as well out of bounds. If a receiver is nearby but fails to catch the ball, or if a defender deflects the pass, there is no penalty.

After a flag is thrown, the officials may confer to decide whether all these components were present, and may "pick up the flag" on finding there was no intentional grounding.

Penalty

The penalty for intentional grounding has several components so that the offense gains no benefit from the violation:^[2]

• The offense is backed up 10 yards from the line of scrimmage or to the spot of the pass, whichever is most disadvantageous.
• The offense loses the down rather than replaying it.
• If the quarterback threw the pass from his team's own end zone, the penalty results in a safety being scored by the defense.^[3]
• The offense cannot commit a penalty as a form of clock management, because offensive penalties with less than one minute left in the half include a ten-second runoff on the game clock.

Examples

• The quarterback receives the snap, doesn't move, and throws the ball deep to the right side. Not a single receiver is close to the ball. The penalty should be called for intentional grounding, as no receiver was near the throw.
• The quarterback is chased out of the pocket, and throws the ball out of bounds. The ball does not cross the line of scrimmage, and no receiver was nearby. This should also be a penalty.
• The quarterback escapes a tackle and scrambles away to the right, he throws the ball short behind the line of scrimmage. It falls at the feet of a receiver. No penalty should be called as a receiver is nearby.
• The quarterback scrambles away again, this time to the left. He throws the ball out of bounds, past the line of scrimmage. No receiver is nearby. No penalty should be called as he was out of the 'tackle box'.
• The quarterback throws a pass which is quickly tipped and falls on the ground. No penalty should be called on a tipped ball in any situation.

Pro Bowl

In the NFL Pro Bowl, intentional grounding is legal in order to make the game safer.^[4]

References