It seemed clear to me that Newton INTENDED to throw a slightly forward pass out to his receiver.
The receiver was expecting it to be out in front of him and had to lean back awkwardly to try to catch it.
It definitely did travel backwards (by about a half yard),
but it was deflected by Ebukam.
I've seen numerous occasions where a forward pass is batted backwards by a dlineman, and the officials blow it dead as an incompletion if it hits the ground, even if that's behind the LOS or behind the QB.
So why was Newton's pass ruled a backward pass?
I looked up the NFL rule and it says that if a player's hand/arm move forward in the passing motion, it's a forward pass, even if deflected.
It seems to me that Newton was indeed in the act of throwing a forward pass (albeit at a very slight angle), when Ebukam deflected it.
Hey, I'll take it and love it. But was that officiated correctly?
Dean Blandino's little "explanation" during the broadcast didn't really address my questions.
Thanks for all of your input.
Ramily!
