Necessary to have possession of ball before throwing it?

[bbeagle]

Is it necessary to have possession of the ball before throwing it?

Ball hiked to the QB. Can he shove the ball forwards as soon as he gets the ball... is this considered a forward pass?

It seems to be called a forward pass when the QB is trying to spike the ball near the end of the game.

This came up in the Bills/Vikings game where the ball was snapped to Bills QB Josh Allen who tried a shuffle pass (pushed the ball forwards) right away, but the play was ruled a fumble.

Why in this case, but not every other case near the end of the game?

[TampaSteve]

by no means am i any NFL rules guru. 
It seems to be in an everyday snap when it's not handled it's a loose ball.
With that as an benchmark/axiom, it seems if QB mishandled the snap and 'pushed' it to the ground without having control of it, I dont see why it wouldnt be a loose ball - because the QB never received the snap cleanly...

[js in sc]

In NFHS, would we not consider this an illegal forward batting of a backward pass?

[BrendanP]

I have seen this called both ways. I think the key in BUF/MIN is that the QB merely pushed the ball forward and never fully gained possession. I saw it called the other way in an NCAA game a few years back, where the quarterback took a shotgun snap and held the ball in his firm grasp before pitching it forward to the WR on a jet sweep. He bobbled it and it was ruled a fumble on the field, but reversed to a forward pass by replay. I do believe that you're correct that possession is the key

[goodgrr]

Agreed, the key is holding it long enough to have established possession (time to make a football move etc), this is too short it's still a fumbled snap.