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Speed_Kills
My follow up question was should it be?
In other words what difference does it make if his arm is moving forward if the ball was hit and knocked out of his hand prior to him releasing it
I mean what if Westbrook had take the ball off of his hand... literally just grabbed it... would that not have counted because his arm was moving forward?
If Westbrooks took it out of his hands that would be an interception. Or if a Rams player would have caught the ball before it hit the ground.
As for should the rule be that way, I think an interception makes more sense in this scenario than saying it's a fumble. The QB is intending to pass, his arm is in a passing motion, if someone takes the ball 1 millimeter after leaving his hand we'd say it was an INT so taking it directly out of the hand should be too.
OTOH, if someone is running, taking it directly out of their hand (like Donald did to Breida) is a fumble.