brain twisters

[Navcom]

 A4/G@B8. Receiver A88 ends up open near the back of the EZ and A1 throws the ball high As A88 jumps into the air he steps on the boundary and does not reestablish before he controls the ball in midair.  B55 hits A88 hard before he lands and B55 uses his extended forearm to make forcible contact to the head area causing the ball to pop loose.   B21 catches the ball for an apparent INT.. time expires in the 1st half during the play.  Ruling? Options? Clock?


A2/5@B-20. Second extra period, first possession series. A17’s pass is intercepted by B22, who returns the ball the length of the field for a TD. During B22’s run, the team B coach was out of the coaching box and in the white causing the LJ to run around him to avoid contact. Ruling?

[Legacy Zebra]

1. When A88 leaps from out of bounds by stepping on the boundary line, he is an out of bounds player. Because A88 is an out of bounds player touching a loose ball, the pass is incomplete as soon as he touches it. That makes the targeting by B55 a dead ball foul. The 15 yard penalty will be enforced on the opening kickoff of the second half.

2. Touchdown, game over. Live ball fouls enforced as dead ball fouls do not cancel scores in OT. 3-1-3-g-2 Exception.

[ElvisLives]

In 1, we kinda need to know when the clock expired. If time had expired before the ball was touched by A88, then, indeed, the period is over, and the penalty would be enforced at the 3rd period kickoff.

However, if it was during B21’s apparent ‘run,’ then the period didn’t actually expire, since the ball was dead at the moment the ball was touched by A88. With replay, the RO can identify the time remaining when the ball was touched and became dead. Then Team B would get a ‘series’ at the previous spot, after a 15 yard penalty, and the game clock would start on the snap, with a 25 second play clock.
Without replay, we gotta hope somebody on the crew would have an idea about the time remaining.

[Joe Stack]

In 1, there is forcible contact, and the player is defenseless, but is there an indicator?

Not saying this, as written, isn't targeting, but it is probably better to word the answer as "likely" or "probable" targeting. On the other hand, since the Note on indicator is a "including but not limited to" rule, you might argue that you can infer it based on what is described here by the forearm, which is reasonable. I'm not trying to read too much into this, its just the short comings of worded play questions here and the need for everyone to know the complete rule.