forward pass

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A pass thrown from behind the line of scrimmage to a receiver who is closer to the opponent's end line than the passer.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A pass in the forward direction, advancing toward the goal, generally illegal except in American football, once per play, from behind the line of scrimmage.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a pass to a receiver downfield from the passer