If the defense intercepts or recovers a fumble, no forward passes can be thrown by any player on either side for the rest of the play. If a free runner is available, he may take over possession by running with the ball. Fumbles are very important in football because they can turn into touchdowns or turnovers. If the offense loses the ball, they will usually try to get it back as soon as possible because there is a chance that they can gain advantage by doing so. Sometimes they will even sacrifice their own players to do so. The only time this shouldn't be done is if your team has no chance of recovering the ball; for example, if you are down by many scores or if it's fourth quarter and you need to use all your timeouts. In this case, you should punt instead because it's better to give up four points than lose the game due to a fumble recovery. After a fumble, the quarterback should not throw the ball but rather let the other team have the opportunity to score. Throwing the ball away is a good idea because it saves your team from losing momentum and gives them another chance at scoring.