Ask the Official: Was Eli Manning guilty of intentional grounding vs. Dallas?

A retired veteran NCAA official, who also has a vast knowledge of the NFL rule book, addresses whether Eli Manning was indeed guilty of committing intentional grounding on a critical play in the Giants' Week 1 loss to the Cowboys.

Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Did Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who was under heavy duress, really commit intentional grounding on this critical Week 1 play against Dallas?

Credit: NFL Game Pass

I reached out to "Al," a retired NCAA official who also has a vast knowledge of the NFL rule book and who has graciously offered his assistance whenever there is a need for a rule clarification for the answer.

Here is what he had to say:

"There are three parts to the answer, all of which are based on judgment.

"For the first, the question is when did the defensive player initially contact Manning. It needs to be remembered that the following rules apply to these situations:

If a Team B player contacts the passer or the ball after forward movement begins, a forward pass is ruled, regardless of where the ball strikes the ground or a player. When this occurs, intentional grounding rules do not apply.

If a Team B player contacts the passer or the ball before forward movement begins, the direction of the pass is the responsibility of the passer, and grounding rules apply.

"Apparently, in (referee) Walt Anderson's judgment the contact was initiated before Manning's arm started forward and as such grounding rules are applicable.

"The second part of the question is whether there was an eligible receiver "in the vicinity" to the point where the ball landed. 

To my view, Saquon Barkley was approximately 5 yards from that point. Whether that is sufficiently "in the vicinity" is a judgment call and apparently, Byron Boston, the line judge, did not feel that Barkley met the necessary criteria and so notified Anderson.

Finally, there is the definition of Intentional Grounding as follows: [All emphasis added]:

It is a foul for intentional grounding if a passer, facing an imminent loss of yardage because of pressure from the defense, throws a forward pass without a realistic chance of completion. A realistic chance of completion is defined as a pass that is thrown in the direction of and lands in the vicinity of an originally eligible receiver.

Intentional grounding will not be called when a passer, who is outside, or has been outside, the tackle position, throws a forward pass that lands at or beyond the line of scrimmage, even if no offensive player(s) have a realistic chance to catch the ball.

"The Manning pass clearly landed well short of the line of scrimmage. Given that Barkley had been determined (rightfully or wrongly) to not be "in the vicinity," the pass needed to land at or beyond the line of scrimmage. As it clearly did not, Intentional Grounding was called."