Cornered RBs...

[hollodero]

...I have a thing that's nagging me, I guess I see at least one situation like that in a game. There's a handoff or often a pitch to a RB, but there's no running room, the D sworms in, and even though the RB can run a little to the sides, the loss of several yards is unavoidable.

Why does no RB ever in that situation just throw the ball out of bounds? They always tiptoe a little or something like that and then get piled for a loss. Throwing an incompletion doesn't seem to be an option though. Why is that?

[MrRager]

(10-12-2017, 10:14 PM)hollodero Wrote: ...I have a thing that's nagging me, I guess I see at least one situation like that in a game. There's a handoff or often a pitch to a RB, but there's no running room, the D sworms in, and even though the RB can run a little to the sides, the loss of several yards is unavoidable.

Why does no RB ever in that situation just throw the ball out of bounds? They always tiptoe a little or something like that and then get piled for a loss. Throwing an incompletion doesn't seem to be an option though. Why is that?

The rules state you are only allowed to have a certain number of player downfield when the ball is thrown. During a run play there is probably one or two offensive linemen who are more than 2 yards past the line of scrimmage, along with the WRs running decoy routes or blocking downfield due to soft coverage. If a RB threw it out of bounds they would get penalized for ineligible man downfield.

At least I think this is the reason why   

[hollodero]

(10-12-2017, 10:33 PM)MrRager Wrote: The rules state you are only allowed to have a certain number of player downfield when the ball is thrown. During a run play there is probably one or two offensive linemen who are more than 2 yards past the line of scrimmage, along with the WRs running decoy routes or blocking downfield due to soft coverage. If a RB threw it out of bounds they would get penalized for ineligible man downfield.

At least I think this is the reason why   

Right. That makes sense.

Still, often even a five yard penalty would be better than getting buried with a loss and also lose the down. But in any case it doesn't seem so intriguing to throw it, so I now also think that's the reason why.

[*michaelsean*]

(10-12-2017, 10:48 PM)hollodero Wrote: Right. That makes sense.

Still, often even a five yard penalty would be better than getting buried with a loss and also lose the down. But in any case it doesn't seem so intriguing to throw it, so I now also think that's the reason why.

That's actually not a bad idea.  You get the down over.  You'd probably have to look at their ability to stop and throw the ball in each situation.