[CTcard]

  But that brings up a question:  if McKee fakes handoff and boots left and is going to get drilled for a loss or no gain, can he just throw the ball past LOS OOB?  I know the rule on a drop back is that if you're outside the hashmarks the only requirement is that ball going out of bounds must cross the line of scrimmage.  But my gut tells me that would not apply in a running play where QB, outside the hashes, realizes there is nowhere to go and just tosses it OOB past the LOS.  But I don't know the rule on that situation and am too lazy to look it up.  Anyway, if that were legal, then the McKee boot left is even more defensible.

Isn't the rule for grounding "outside the tackle box"? Or is that pros?

You could be right.  And while it's probably too late for me, I'm going to belatedly adhere to the maxim about it being better to keep quiet at the risk of being thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt about it.

The rule is that if the person throwing the ball is outside of the tackle, and throws the ball past the line of scrimmage, then there is no intentional grounding. There is nothing in the rule about what type of play was called.
However, I don't think I have ever in my life seen a QB, or any runner, do that on a called run play.

[CTcard]

  But that brings up a question:  if McKee fakes handoff and boots left and is going to get drilled for a loss or no gain, can he just throw the ball past LOS OOB?  I know the rule on a drop back is that if you're outside the hashmarks the only requirement is that ball going out of bounds must cross the line of scrimmage.  But my gut tells me that would not apply in a running play where QB, outside the hashes, realizes there is nowhere to go and just tosses it OOB past the LOS.  But I don't know the rule on that situation and am too lazy to look it up.  Anyway, if that were legal, then the McKee boot left is even more defensible.

Isn't the rule for grounding "outside the tackle box"? Or is that pros?

You could be right.  And while it's probably too late for me, I'm going to belatedly adhere to the maxim about it being better to keep quiet at the risk of being thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt about it.

The rule is that if the person throwing the ball is outside of the tackle, and throws the ball past the line of scrimmage, then there is no intentional grounding. There is nothing in the rule about what type of play was called.
However, I don't think I have ever in my life seen a QB, or any runner, do that on a called run play.