In gridiron football, intentional grounding is a violation of the rules where "a passer...throws a forward pass without a realistic chance of completion." This typically happens when a quarterback about to be sacked passes the ball toward an area of the field with no eligible receiver. Without this rule, the quarterback could almost always avoid a sack by intentionally throwing an incomplete pass (which would stop the clock and return the ball to the line of scrimmage, avoiding any loss of yardage); instead, the penalty of intentional grounding effectively continues play as if the defense had succeeded in sacking the quarterback.

History

The rule against intentional grounding seems to date from 1914, two seasons after an incomplete pass ceased to result in a turnover, in the period of rule experimentation that followed legalization of the forward pass in 1906.

Elements

A ball carrier, in any location, commits intentional grounding when throwing a pass with no realistic chance of completion in order to avoid a sack; for instance, throwing the football down near himself. In particular, spiking the ball automatically results in a penalty of intentional grounding, regardless of any other factors. However, the rules explicitly allow the quarterback to spike the ball immediately after receiving it from the center to stop the clock without using a time out. Intentional grounding is called only if all of the following components are present:

Penalty

The penalty for intentional grounding has several components so that the offense gains no benefit from the violation:

Pro Bowl

In the NFL Pro Bowl, intentional grounding is legal in order to make the game safer.