Week 1, 2025
Grounding call ends the half on the Commanders
Jayden Daniels pass to the end line was a foul
In a hurry-up at the end of the second quarter, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels opts to run a play rather than spike the ball to stop the clock. The pass was incomplete over the end line.
Tom Brady has seen his share of grounding calls, and immediately the Fox broadcaster chimed in that this should be intentional grounding, identifying the criteria for such a call. While he said this was “missed” initially, mechanically there aren’t immediate grounding flags, since it is a process call that involves multiple officials.
There was a receiver in the end zone, and sometimes we see these waived off as no grounding. Quarterbacks are allowed a significant amount of leeway to throw the ball away, well over the head of the receiver and even landing in the 15th row of the stands. In this case, the receiver is between the hashmarks and the field numerals. The ball landed in a zone outside of the field numerals. This meets a general criteria of determining whether a receiver is in the area of the pass. A missed route assignment is not a factor in avoiding a grounding call.
