June 28, 2006
Last Week’s Question: Cowboys ball, 4th and 10 at their 30 yard line. The Cowboys punt to the Giants. Morton and McQuarters are back for the Giants with McQuarters standing at the Giants 40 and Morton at the 30. The kick is short and McQuarters gives a fair catch signal. However the ball sails over his head and Morton catches it at his 30 where he is immediately hit by the Cowboys “gunner” and he fumbles (there is that word again) the ball. The ball is recovered by the Cowboys at the Giants 25 yard line. Where will the ball next be put into play and what is the down and distance?
Answer
Only the player that gives a fair catch signal is afforded protection from contact by the kick coverage team. However, the ball is dead as soon as it is possessed by any member of the receiving team following a fair catch signal by any member of the receiving team. As a result, the ball is dead as soon as it is caught by Morton and unless the officials rule that the contact by the “gunner” was flagrant, the result will be the Giants ball at the 30, 1st down and 10. In effect, Morton "fumbled" a dead ball.
This Week’s Question
The Redskins attempt a long field goal from the Giants 47 yard line. The Giants send Jai Lewis (assuming he makes the team) or Plaxico Burress back into the end zone. As the ball descends, the Giants defender jumps and bats the ball away as it is about to pass just over the crossbar. The ball falls harmlessly into the end zone where it eventually comes to rest. What is the result of the play? (Post your guess in the Tailgate Club, our free message board discussion area.)
June 23. 2006
In many NFL games I've noticed that a field goal kicker will follow through with his field goal attempt after the whistle has blown and play has been stopped. Then when play resumes he has the opportunity to alter his kick, if necessary, giving him a chance to correct any mistakes.
I didn't think anything about this until the Giants game against the Vikings last season. (Sorry to bring that game up) It all came down to a field goal, in which the Vikings jumped offside and the play was stopped. But Edinger went ahead and kicked the ball. It missed, but he turned to his holder and motioned to him as if to say that he had figured out what he needed to do to correct the kick.
As we know, Edinger made the following attempt with 10 seconds left and the Vikings won the game. I immediately felt cheated. How unfair it was to give a kicker a "free" shot at the uprights, especially when it was his team being penalized.
But then again if it's a plan, it might be a gamble I would take as a coach at times.
Look, if it's a 35-45 yard kick before the penalty (43 in this case), and the wind is blowing and/or the field is bad, etc., and you have somebody like Feely kicking, and the game is on the line, why not have somebody on the D-Line jump offside so the kicker can test the snap, the hold, the wind and the distance, and only get penalized 5 yards for doing it?
I bet you when the kicker tries again it'll be good a high percentage of the time. It's almost like the attempts made on 3rd down just incase something goes wrong and the holder or kicker needs to fall on the ball. The loss of yards isn't as important as a second chance at scoring.
When I think of the Seattle game (Sorry again) I have no doubt in my mind that if Feely was given two shots, back-to-back plays, each time he attempted those field goals with only a 5 yard difference, he would have made at least one of them. Even the one that was way short. So should there be a rule that penalizes a kicker for following through with his kick after the whistle has blow n and his team is at fault?
If the defense is at fault, a flag will just go up without a whistle, so he can go ahead and test his kick... like a "free play" but not a score if it is good.
But if there is a flag and a whistle which stops the play because the offense is guilty and the kicker doesn't stop or intentionally kick the ball out of bound, or shank it, but he aims and fires at the uprights, why shouldn't his kick be considered something like a "kick after the whistle" resulting in a possible loss of down, and/or a loss of more than 5 yards being marked off, like 10 or 15 yards to be determined by the officials and the seriousness of the attempt? — Eric M.
I must tell you that after almost 40 years of officiating, the situation/concern that you raise is a new one on me. As I understand it, you are suggesting that the offense deliberately false start on a field goal situation and then have the kicker deliberately continue through the kicking process to test, in effect, the conditions and then make any necessary corrections. Although I can see why you have raised the issue (it is sort of the way many of us take "mulligans" on the golf course) but I do not believe that it is an issue in the real world.
First of all, the five yards that would be the result of the penalty are often vital to the kicker. The perecentage of kicks made goes down dramatically as you move from 35-40 yards to 40-45 yards and then out to 45-50 yards. So I suspect that most coaches would be very reluctant to give up the five yards.
Secondly, there are three rules that are already in the book that could be enforced by the Referee if he felt that a deliberate action had taken place: one is the simple delay of game penalty that could add an additional 5 yards (as the first foul was a live ball foul and the second was a dead ball foul) or b) he could rule that the act of taking the "practice" kick represented Unsportsmanlike Conduct that would result in a 15 yard penalty; or c) Rule 12-3-3 allows the Referee to enforce "any such distance penalty that he considers equitable" for anything that he perceives as a "palpably unfair act."
As a result, if the Referee recognizes a situation such as the one that you pose, there are already a lot of things that can occur and I suspect that there are few coaches that would even attempt such a situation knowing the potential implications.
I will check with some of the NFL officials that I know to see if they even discuss such a situation but I can tell you that it is not an issue that has been raised with the rules/"competition" committee at any time in the past (although that does not mean it might not be raised in the future.)
I suspect that if there are any concerns about this matter, a directive would be sent to the officials (often called a "Point of Emphasis" or an "Approved Ruling") telling them to be on the lookout for such a situation with copies to the teams advising them that such a situation is illegal.
June 19, 2006
Last Week’s Question
Giants ball at their own 40, 4th down and 10. With Feagles back to kick, standing at the Giants 25, a Redskins rusher attempting to block the kick “incidentally” (5 yard penalty) grabs the face mask of the Giants blocker standing at the Giants 30. Feagles fumbles the snap and eventually falls on the ball at the Giants 26. Assuming the Giants accept the penalty, where will the ball next be put in play and what will be the down and distance.
Answer
Every year the people who put together the Summer Quizzes insert some questions that are, in their words, “intended to evoke discussion.” It is also necessary to study every word of these questions before giving an answer. This is one such question.
First of all, let’s make it clear what this play is not. It is not a scrimmage kick/punt situation as no kick was made. It is basically a running play that ended behind the line of scrimmage.
Secondly, we have to clarify some definitions that are important to understanding the play: a) A snap is considered to be a backwards pass; b) A “muff” occurs when a player touches but fails to control a pass, kick or a fumble; and c) a “fumble” occurs when a player who has control of the ball looses that control of the ball. As a result, in the question that has been posed, we have a backwards pass that must have been controlled by Feagles and then “fumbled” and fallen upon. The big question is when did the foul occur, during the backwards pass/snap or after Feagles initially possessed the ball.
If the foul occurred during the backwards pass, the penalty is assessed from the previous spot, the line of scrimmage. As a result, if this was the situation the result would be Giants ball, 4th and 5 at the Giants 45. However, if the foul occurred after Feagles possessed the ball or after he had fumbled the ball, it is a foul by the defense on a running play that ended behind the line. In this case, Rule 14-12 (exception7) indicates that: “When the foul by defense is behind the LOS and the ball becomes dead behind the line, enforcement is from the spot of the foul or the spot where the ball became dead, whichever is more advantageous to the offense. If such a foul occurs incurs a penalty that results in the offended team being short of the line, the ball will be advanced to the previous spot and no additional yardage assessed.” As a result, in this instance, as the 5 yard foul would not get the Giants back to the 40 yard line, the ball will be placed at the previous line of scrimmage and the result would be Giants ball at the 40, 4th and 10.
This is the reason why so many times the officials have to get together to discuss the entire situation before giving the options. Unfortunately, it is also the time when the announcers often say that they “can’t understand why the officials are discussing the play.”
This Week’s Question (Simpler than last week)
Cowboys ball, 4th and 10 at their 30 yard line. The Cowboys punt to the Giants. Morton and McQuarters are back for the Giants with McQuarters standing at the Giants 40 and Morton at the 30. The kick is short and McQuarters gives a fair catch signal. However the ball sails over his head and Morton catches it at his 30 where he is immediately hit by the Cowboys “gunner” and he fumbles (there is that word again) the ball. The ball is recovered by the Cowboys at the Giants 25 yard line. Where will the ball next be put into play and what is the down and distance?
Think you know the answer? Post your guess in the Tailgate Club, our free message board discussion area.
June 15, 2006
This column is so great I read it every month top to bottom. With all the
rulebook quotations it's very useful and interesting. I would like to ask if
there is a way to obtain an NFL Rulebook (I mean the real one not the one
offered by amazon.com) and perhaps an Officiating Mechanics Handbook. NFL
website doesn't give any e-mail addresses. Could I possibly have these
materials shipped to Europe? -- Michael
I do not believe that the NFL makes the "official" rule book or mechanics manual available to the general public. You may want to contact the NFL office in New York to check. However, there is a good version of the rules available from Triumph Books at 542 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60605. This book is much better than the dumbed down version offered on the NFL.com website. The 2006 version should be available by mid- to late-August. The Mechanics Manual and the "Approved Rulings" are typically closely held.
June 14, 2006
Last Week's Pop Quiz Rules
4th down and goal to go for the Giants at the Redskins 2 yard line. Brandon Jacobs attempts to run around right end but he is hit at the 3 yard line and fumbles the ball into the end zone where it is recovered by Amani Toomer. What is the result of the play?
Answer:
Rule 8-4-1 states that: “If a fourth-down fumble occurs during a play from scrimmage and the recovery or catch is by another offensive player, the spot of the next snap is: a) the spot of the fumble unless: b) the spot of the recovery is behind the spot of the fumble … .”
As a result, the spot of the next snap will be at the spot where Jacobs fumbled the ball and, as the Giants did not make the line to gain (i.e., the goal line), the ball will belong to the Redskins. Thus, the result is Redskins ball at their own 3 yard line, 1st and 10.
Congratulations to “Yoppulent” for getting it right!
This Week’s Question
Giants ball at their own 40, 4th down and 10. With Feagles back to kick, standing at the Giants 25, a Redskins rusher attempting to block the kick “incidentally” (5 yard penalty) grabs the face mask of the Giants blocker standing at the Giants 30. Feagles fumbles the snap and eventually falls on the ball at the Giants 26. Assuming the Giants accept the penalty, where will the ball next be put in play and what will be the down and distance.
