You Make the Call (1 Viewer)

[Sarnoff]

BTW, I think I saw the Eagles special teams unit blow a play last night. Dallas was kicking off after a touchdown. The ball was headed straight to the front corner of the end zone. It hit just past the pylon out of bounds for a touchback. Two Eagles returners were at the goal line and let the ball go out behind them, but it was really, really close and it was hard to tell if the ball actually went out at the 1 or in the end zone. One of the Eagles returners should have stepped one foot out of bounds and caught the ball for a penalty against Dallas and they would have taken the ball at the 40 for Kicking out of Bounds. If the ball is caught by returner with even a toe out of bounds, it's out of bounds, no matter if the ball itself is still above the plane of the field.

 

[GregR]

Answer to #6 as we've had the rule posted already:

Spoiler

Carrying a player out of bounds results in awarding possession.

"Item 6: Carried Out of Bounds. If a player, who is in possession of the ball, is held up and carried out of bounds by an opponent before both feet or any part of his body other than his hands touches the ground inbounds, it is a completed or intercepted pass."

 

[dgreen]

I remember years ago a QB (Rodney Peete?) doing the fake knee and throwing a pass on the last play of the first half.

After some research, I think Peete did this in college. For some reason I thought he did it with the Lions.

 

[GregR]

Answer to #7, which Joe Summer got:

Spoiler

If a defender provides the impetus to the ball that causes it to enter his end zone, and then either go out of bounds, or if a teamate falls on the ball there, it is a safety. Such a safety on a Try after a touchdown is worth 1 point instead of the normal two.

This is probably the least-known way to score a point in the NFL. Fair Catch Kicks used to be pretty obscure too, but we've had a couple the last few years so they are better known now.

I've never seen a defensive safety like this called that I can recall.

 

[Joe Summer]

Answer to #3:

Spoiler

Nicely done again, the vast majority of people got this right.

You can't do anything about getting the 12 men on the field reviewed. Yes, that is a reviewable play by the way. You're at the mercy of the replay booth. So let's assume they don't review it, or they do and there were only 11... you should be planning on this:

A period can be extended with an untimed play after a fair catch. The only thing you can do is to make a Fair Catch Kick. In other circumstances you could snap the ball normally, but not on an untimed play.

A Fair Catch Kick can be a drop kick or a place kick. Assuming the latter, the holder holds the ball at the spot (in this case the 50), and the defense has to line up 10 yards back from the ball at the 40. So you're essentially trying a 60 yard FG with the defense not able to do a normal attempt at blocking it.

Spoiler

Let's tweak the scenario a bit and say that you're down by 4 points instead of 2. What's the play?

Hmm. If they review and rule too many men on the field, we can make them rekick and try to block it and fall on the ball for a touchdown.If they don't, then... would need to research this, but I'd lean towards do the Fair Catch kick, and try to drill it off a defender and hope it makes it to the end zone and one of them is as dumb as Leon Lett so we can fall on it for a TD. Though off the top of my head I'm not sure the rules for recovery of a blocked FC kick past the line are the same as a normal FG.

It looks like the rules allow for the possibility of scoring a touchdown after a Fair Catch Kick (assuming that the defense attempts to advance the ball). Rule 11, Section 4, Article 3 says "The kicking team cannot get the ball unless it has first been touched or possessed by the receivers".

 

[GregR]

So what happens if the 12 men on the field is reviewed and caught, and you accept. Now there is an untimed play a 0 seconds. If they punt on the untimed play and you fair catch, do you still get a free kick?

It appears so, yes. Rule 4, Section 8:

If any period is extended for any reason, it shall continue until the completion of a down free from any foul specified in (a) through (i) above.

(Although they use the word "foul", they shouldn't, because not all of the terms to which it refers are fouls. And letter (f) above specifically says, "If a fair-catch is signaled and made, the receivers may choose to extend the period by a fair-catch kick down (10-2-4). If the first or third period is not so extended, the receivers may start the succeeding period with a snap or fair-catch kick (11-4-3).)

I'll see if we can get an answer to it tonight during MNF. For those interested in such things, Pereira's twitter feed is @MikePereira, and Jim Daopoulos (former NFL ref and supervisor of refs) is @RefereeJimD. Pereira is hit or miss on getting an answer out of. But I think Daopoulos has responded every time I've tweeted him. Just catch him during game time when he's actively tweeting.

 

[Sarnoff]

Hey Greg, one I haven't seen an answer to in another thread... do you know or might you be able to tweet it? What happens in the regular season if: a game goes to OT, Team A receives, then team A uses the entire 15 minutes on a single drive that ends in a FG as time expires? Does the game end without Team B getting an opportunity to possess? Or does Team A have to kick off with an untimed play?

 

[GregR]

Hey Greg, one I haven't seen an answer to in another thread... do you know or might you be able to tweet it? What happens in the regular season if: a game goes to OT, Team A receives, then team A uses the entire 15 minutes on a single drive that ends in a FG as time expires? Does the game end without Team B getting an opportunity to possess? Or does Team A have to kick off with an untimed play?

No untimed play just to give a possession:16-1-4:"There shall be a maximum of one 15-minute period, even if the second team has not had an opportunity to possess the ball or if its initial possession has not ended."

 

[GregR]

I can't come up with a realistic situation where you would extend a period, and have a fair catch take place on the untimed play to even set up the situation we're discussing.

Let's say you have the ball. I commit a defensive penalty so you have the option of extending. Why would you extend if all you were going to do was punt? If it was end of a half you'd rather let time end and not give me the ball.

If it's the end of the 1st or 3rd quarter... ok, maybe you extend the period to make your punt with the wind which you lose when we change ends after the period. But then I make my fair catch and why would I do a fair catch kick here? I have a whole quarter so I'd rather run my offense and try to get a TD. Even if we come up with a reason to do a fair catch kick, we only got here by saying the punter did it to take the wind. Why would I extend the period to make my FC kick against the wind?

 

[Sarnoff]

Hey Greg, one I haven't seen an answer to in another thread... do you know or might you be able to tweet it? What happens in the regular season if: a game goes to OT, Team A receives, then team A uses the entire 15 minutes on a single drive that ends in a FG as time expires? Does the game end without Team B getting an opportunity to possess? Or does Team A have to kick off with an untimed play?

No untimed play just to give a possession:16-1-4:"There shall be a maximum of one 15-minute period, even if the second team has not had an opportunity to possess the ball or if its initial possession has not ended."

Thanks. Looking it up it seems that the red text was a recent addition I didn't see in the previous rulebook version. The text contradicts the "must" in Article 3, but it looks like that's the case.