safety or touchback

Question
Coach, this should be the last question. If the defensive player purposely tosses the ball out the back of the end zone from the 2 yard line, touchback or safety?
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Coach, an offensive player fumbles the ball at the defenses 10 yard line. Attempts to recover the ball at the 2 yard line fail and the ball ends up going out of the back of the end zone. Is it a safety or a touchback?
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Coach, if the offensive team fumbles the ball into their own end zone and one of the offensive players knocks the ball out the back of the end zone after the fumble, is that a safety or a touchback?
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Shawn -

Thank you for the nice comments and ratings.  It is most appreciated.  I hope to hear from you and your friends in the future.  Everyone on this site is a volunteer, so I make no money doing this.  I enjoy it, and thats the point.  Just like you playing football.  Let me know if I can do anything else for you.

Thanks again,

Coach Perl

Shawn -

Thanks for the question.  Well, normally, I give long detailed responses.  But in this case, it is a one word answer....

Safety.

If an offensive players in any way crosses the out of bounds line in the end zone, either with the ball in his possession or he allows that ball to go out, it is a safety.  Remember though, this does not apply on kickoffs or punts.  A player can run out of the back of the end zone on a kickoff or punt and that is a touchback.  But during any offensive play, that is a safety.

Let me know if you have any other questions.. Hope this helped.

Best wishes

Coach Perl
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Shawn -

Thanks for writing.  Simple answer to this one as well.  If an offensive player fumbles the ball into the opposing teams end zone, and it goes out of bounds, it is the same as if the other team had recovered it - touchback.  The defensive team gets possession at their 20 yard line, first down.  

Let me know if I can do anything else for you.  Hope these are helping you become an expert yourself!

Best wishes

Coach Perl

Answer
Shawn -

Well this is one of those questions that is tougher, because: 1- How did the defender get the football  2- Why would he purposely throw a ball out of the back of his own endzone?

But basically, a good rule of thumb is to remember that once a defender has control of the ball, he is basically an offensive player.  So if he tossed the ball out of his own endzone, it is the same as if one of his teams offensive players did it.

Safety.

I will say this.  I can see you are trying to understand the game fully, which is great. However, dont overdue it. Stick with the rules and the situations that happen or might likely happen.  Once you start getting into bizarre situations and rulings, it will make it tougher to get the more basic ones down.  

Feel free to keep them coming and I will do my best to answer what I know.

Coach Perl