3 responses
I heard that the standard was the QB had to have complete control at some point during the movement for it to be a throw. And that it didn't meet that standard, ergo, fumble despite the forward movement of the ball.

Know anything about that? Curious.
Article here says he never had full control when his arm was moving, and that it was pretty clear on the tape:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/02/AR20090202028...
There is a rule in soccer that says you have to inbound a ball on a throw-in with both hands, and the refs would kind of cheat and just watch the ball. If the ball had any kind of side rotation on it, they would claim that it was no good. But this was invalid because it was actually possible to have sideways rotation and still have a perfectly valid throw-in.

I feel like that's where I am now. Yep, you're exactly right, the QB must have control when the arm comes forward. And if he lost it, then it was a fumble. But I'm looking at the ball and I see a spiral and to me that looks like control. But like I said, that's me and I may be cheating.