Correct, but when you fail to pick the ball up, it only bounces once. In effect, it hits the ground in the same square as the player -- he failed to pick it up/catch it, remember -- and bounces to a new square, where, if empty, the ball lands, stays put and causes a turnover.Buggrit wrote:The way that we've read the rules it states that when the ball hits an empty square it will bounce once, we've always bounced it from fumbles, failed catches, failed pick ups and any other instance where the ball hits the ground. You drop a ball, it's not going to sit still, it's going to bounce.
If this second bounce takes the ball either into the crowd or onto a prone player or onto another player who fails to catch the ball, then you bounce again (or use the sideline template for a crowd throw-in) until the ball either comes to rest (causing a turnover) or is caught (which may or may not be a turnover, depending on who caught the ball).