I know there's been a lot of back and forth on the subject but since I had already put this together for an email to a friend I thought I'd drop it here anyway.
This was a fumble and it wasn't even close. It's also why there was need for very little review. This is because the ball came out before Josh's arm was even in position to attempt a pass (barring some kind of very short "push" pass) The stills were taken from these two sites and conveniently in slow motion.
The start for setting up the throw is here.
Then the ball starts back into what you might call the "wind up". In these pics you see Rodgers and Josh at the same point in this wind up except in the latter's case it's when the defender's arm hits the back of Josh's just below the wrist. (an important distinction discussed later)
And here we have the ball clearly out of Josh's hand.
What doesn't seem to be entering the conversation is at the point of the mechanics above it's not even close to the actual "throwing the ball forward" part. This can only occur when the elbow is in front of the ball allowing a leveraged action. (The video with Rodgers has a whole slew of other examples to watch)
Literally at no point, even after being hit (see video) is Josh's elbow in front of the ball. When he was hit and the ball forced out he arguably wasn't even halfway to having the ball in throwing position as it was still on course to be moving backward and elbow coming forward. The ball itself went forward as it did precisely because of where and how the impact took place. If the defender had merely reached around and slapped/grabbed downward on the bicep/lower forearm the ball would not have traveled in the way it did. Instead the initial impact was very high on the forearm, not far below the ball itself. This is why so much forward momentum was imparted.
Anyway, my 2 cents.
This was a fumble and it wasn't even close. It's also why there was need for very little review. This is because the ball came out before Josh's arm was even in position to attempt a pass (barring some kind of very short "push" pass) The stills were taken from these two sites and conveniently in slow motion.
The start for setting up the throw is here.
Then the ball starts back into what you might call the "wind up". In these pics you see Rodgers and Josh at the same point in this wind up except in the latter's case it's when the defender's arm hits the back of Josh's just below the wrist. (an important distinction discussed later)
And here we have the ball clearly out of Josh's hand.
What doesn't seem to be entering the conversation is at the point of the mechanics above it's not even close to the actual "throwing the ball forward" part. This can only occur when the elbow is in front of the ball allowing a leveraged action. (The video with Rodgers has a whole slew of other examples to watch)
Literally at no point, even after being hit (see video) is Josh's elbow in front of the ball. When he was hit and the ball forced out he arguably wasn't even halfway to having the ball in throwing position as it was still on course to be moving backward and elbow coming forward. The ball itself went forward as it did precisely because of where and how the impact took place. If the defender had merely reached around and slapped/grabbed downward on the bicep/lower forearm the ball would not have traveled in the way it did. Instead the initial impact was very high on the forearm, not far below the ball itself. This is why so much forward momentum was imparted.
Anyway, my 2 cents.
