In our previous Ready for Play article, we used an airline trip from New York to Denver to explain Rule 2-33-1, the loose-ball play. We imagined a transportation company hired to escort an important executive from his home to Denver. Their responsibility began at his front door, continued through the drive to the airport, the TSA checkpoint, the flight itself, and ended only after he stepped off the airplane at the destination gate.
That entire journey represented the loose-ball play.
Now let’s continue the trip.
The executive has arrived in Denver. Another transportation company is waiting at the gate. Their job is not to fly the passenger across the country. Their responsibility is to drive him wherever he needs to go. Perhaps they take him to his hotel. Later they drive him to dinner. After that, they transport him to the convention center for a meeting.
Each of those trips represents a running play.
Rule 2-33-2 tells us:
A running play is any action not included in Article 1.
That simple sentence carries an important implication. Once the football is possessed beyond the neutral zone, we are no longer thinking about loose-ball plays. We are thinking about running plays.
Many officials stumble here because the ball does not always stay in a runner’s possession. The runner may fumble. A teammate may recover the ball and continue the advance. The ball may become loose several times during the same down.
Those loose balls do not create new loose-ball plays.
Remember the airline analogy. The flight from New York to Denver is over. Nobody suddenly boards another airplane halfway through the afternoon. The passenger simply changes vehicles as he travels around the city.
The same thing happens on the football field.
Suppose A22 runs beyond the neutral zone and fumbles. A88 recovers the ball and advances before fumbling again. A45 recovers and continues the run.
From a football perspective, we have three separate running plays.
The first running play ends when A22 fumbles.
The second running play begins when A88 recovers the ball and ends when he fumbles.
The third running play begins when A45 recovers the ball and ends when he scores or is downed.
Each recovery starts a new running play because each player is beginning a new advance.
This concept becomes especially important when we enforce penalties.
When the ball becomes loose beyond the neutral zone following a fumble, an illegal kick, or backward pass, we “assign” that loose ball to the run that just ended. In penalty enforcement language, that run is called the related run.
Think of it as attaching a luggage tag.
When A22 fumbles, that loose ball receives A22’s luggage tag. If Team B commits a foul while the ball is loose, we don’t enforce from where the ball eventually ends up. We trace the loose ball back to the running play that produced it. The related run ended at the spot of A22’s fumble.
When A88 recovers and later fumbles, the process begins again. That loose ball now belongs to A88’s running play. Any foul during that loose ball is connected to the run that ended with A88’s fumble.
Each loose ball beyond the neutral zone is linked to the run that immediately preceded it.
That is why Rule 10 repeatedly refers to the end of the related run. The rules are telling us which running play “owns” the loose ball for penalty enforcement purposes.
Notice the contrast with the airline flight.
During the loose-ball play, everything belonged to a single transportation contract. The drive to the airport, the walk through the terminal, and the flight itself were all part of one continuous journey. That is why the basic spot is the previous spot for a foul which occurs during a loose ball play (unless 10-4-3 or 10-5 apply).
Once the airplane lands, however, we leave that contract behind. We are now dealing with local transportation. Every time a runner gains possession beyond the neutral zone, a new trip begins. If that runner later fumbles, that trip has reached its destination. The loose ball is attached to that completed trip until someone else recovers it and starts another one.
Officials may assume that whenever the football becomes loose, they must be dealing with a loose-ball play.
Rule 2-33 teaches us otherwise.
A loose ball does not necessarily mean a loose-ball play.
Beyond the neutral zone, loose balls following fumbles and backward passes are simply pauses between running plays. For penalty enforcement, each loose ball belongs to the run that produced it, and a new running play begins when a player secures possession again.
Once you picture the airplane parked at the gate in Denver, the rest of Rule 2-33 becomes much easier to understand. The flight is over. From this point forward, every destination is reached one ride at a time.
Quiz
Read the quiz stem and then choose the best answer. (Choose all that apply.)
2/8 from the B-15. B22 intercepts A10’s pass on the B-3 and his momentum carries him into the end zone. B22 races through the end zone, is hit, and fumbles the ball across the end line. Following the play, A88 taunts B22 and is flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.
- The result of the play is a safety; enforce the penalty for A88’s USC foul from the K-20 (Kickoff)
- The result of the play is a touchback; enforce the penalty for A88’s USC foul from the A-20
- Enforce the penalty for A88’s USC foul from the B-3
Review Rules 8-5-2a EXCEPTION and 10-4-5a