dhockster
Footballguy
If the play was still alive when the ball was knocked loose, then yes, forward progress is determined from the point possession is established again. If, when the ball moved, Faulk had instead dropped the ball, would it have been a fumble?The problem in this scenario is even when forward progress has stopped, if the player gets pushed backwards and the ball gets juggled they will take away forward progress. In the play with Faulk, he caught the ball, got both feet down, took a step and then got wrapped up. He then got pushed backwards five+ feet and then the ball moved. The ball never came out but they marked him where he was when he got his second hand on the football . . . at about the 29 and a half yard line when he was had advanced to the 31 and a half yard line initially. IMO, I don't see why this type of play shouldn't be called as his forward progress was stopped and down at that point. That's how they call any other play when a player gets pushed back and is not tackled to the ground. I have seen similar plays where the runner was wrapped up and pushed back and the ball was stripped, but in that instance they called the play dead as his forward progress had been stopped. In either play, the ball reached a certain point on the field and the defense pushed the player backwards.