Rules of the Game

Livingat45north

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Thought I'd start a thread on bizarre, or at least somewhat cryptic, football rules. Here's one for you...

In college a player can catch his own pass. So, in the red zone play, Seth Green could roll out for a run and before he gets to the line of scrimmage toss the ball up in the air, catch it again a step later, and get credit for both a passing TD and a receiving TD all in the same play.
 

Sounds like a recipe for a pick six
 

... and here's another one...

Saw this in a game a long time back - a fake punt. The punter took the snap as normal and instead of punting the ball he threw it underhanded (so the downfield players for the other team could see what was happening). It looked like a wobbly bad punt. The other team backed away from the ball to let it land, and the team "punting" basically just walked under it, caught it with no one around him, and then ran for an additional 30 yards while the other team was trying to figure out what was going on.
 


... and here's another one...

Saw this in a game a long time back - a fake punt. The punter took the snap as normal and instead of punting the ball he threw it underhanded (so the downfield players for the other team could see what was happening). It looked like a wobbly bad punt. The other team backed away from the ball to let it land, and the team "punting" basically just walked under it, caught it with no one around him, and then ran for an additional 30 yards while the other team was trying to figure out what was going on.

Isn't that an incomplete pass?

On the Green scenario, if he passes to himself and he is hit while ball in the air is it potentially pass interference?
 


... and here's another one...

Saw this in a game a long time back - a fake punt. The punter took the snap as normal and instead of punting the ball he threw it underhanded (so the downfield players for the other team could see what was happening). It looked like a wobbly bad punt. The other team backed away from the ball to let it land, and the team "punting" basically just walked under it, caught it with no one around him, and then ran for an additional 30 yards while the other team was trying to figure out what was going on.

That would be an incomplete pass.


What you saw was actually the worst officiating of all time
 



Isn't that an incomplete pass?

On the Green scenario, if he passes to himself and he is hit while ball in the air is it potentially pass interference?

He said he caught it.

QB's get laid out when the ball is in mid air all the time with no PI so I wouldn't think so. This play actually happened with Kirk Cousins and the Vikings last year against the Cardinals I believe. He threw it, the D-line batted it down back into Kirk and he caught it and ran with it. Was credited with both a pass completion and a reception IIRC.
 



That’s true but I bet the refs still sucked

Well If you throw the ball, regardless of whether it is underhand or overhead, it is going to count as a pass and not a punt so I don't think the refs screwed up.
 

Well If you throw the ball, regardless of whether it is underhand or overhead, it is going to count as a pass and not a punt so I don't think the refs screwed up.

I know.
I read it wrong.

I am just saying even though they got that one right I bet the refs were still terrible
 


He said he caught it.

QB's get laid out when the ball is in mid air all the time with no PI so I wouldn't think so. This play actually happened with Kirk Cousins and the Vikings last year against the Cardinals I believe. He threw it, the D-line batted it down back into Kirk and he caught it and ran with it. Was credited with both a pass completion and a reception IIRC.

Fran Tarkenton had a similar play in Super Bowl IX against the Steelers when he had a pass batted back to him, which he caught and then he threw a long pass to John Gilliam, which he caught. The officials were astute enough to realize a double forward pass is a penalty, which was enforced at the spot of where the second pass was thrown. So the first pass was officially a completeion and I think that put Fran in the record books as being the first quarterback to catch a pass in the Super Bowl.
 




This thread reminds me of the first time Nebraska played us at TCF bank when the joined the conference.

Their ballcarrier was at the 3 or 4 yard line about to score a TD and then before he crossed the goal line, fumbled the ball and the ball rolled into the end zone and then out of bounds.

The refs gave Nebraska the TD because the rule is that if the ball is fumbled out of bounds, the ball is placed at the spot where the ball went out of bounds. Because it went out of bounds in the end zone, it was a TD.

I think I've seen plays like this before where the refs didn't give them the TD.
 

I'm gonna get this wrong probabbly but here we go:

I think it was an Iowa game (not involving us) where there was a punt and the person catching the punt had it bounce out of his hands into the air... and the punting team caught it in the air. The rule was that the ball wasn't fumbled, so the punting team could not have possession, the receiving team got the ball at the spot.. I think it does make sense with other rules in mind but it is one of those things that until I saw it, it hadn't really occurred to me how that plays out. Basically the kicking team should have let it hit the ground first, then tried to recover, but with the ball just there in the air, can't blame them for having their instincts take over.
 

Fran Tarkenton had a similar play in Super Bowl IX against the Steelers when he had a pass batted back to him, which he caught and then he threw a long pass to John Gilliam, which he caught. The officials were astute enough to realize a double forward pass is a penalty, which was enforced at the spot of where the second pass was thrown. So the first pass was officially a completeion and I think that put Fran in the record books as being the first quarterback to catch a pass in the Super Bowl.

In the NFL, to catch your own pass it needs to touch someone else first. In college you can directly catch your own pass. So yes, Seth could for a split second let go of the ball with both hands, then catch it, and he should get credit for a pass and reception. Again, not a good idea to do in a game, but the rules let 'em do that and get credited with both a passing TD and receiving TD all in the same play.
 

He said the punting team caught it.

Yes, the punting team caught it, with all the defenders being 10 yards away as they thought it was just a really bad punt. I've only seen this tried once, and at least that time, it worked.
 

Thought I'd start a thread on bizarre, or at least somewhat cryptic, football rules. Here's one for you...

In college a player can catch his own pass. So, in the red zone play, Seth Green could roll out for a run and before he gets to the line of scrimmage toss the ball up in the air, catch it again a step later, and get credit for both a passing TD and a receiving TD all in the same play.

Sounds like a great way to pad your fantasy stats...
 

Here's another one that I haven't seen since the Gophers did it against Ohio State a few years back:

If you're trying an onside kick, the kicker can approach the ball like he's going to kick it, stop at the last second and pick it up (which makes the defense relax because they think something was wrong with the tee). The kicker then immediately does a drop kick, thus catching the defense off guard.
 

... and here's another one...

Saw this in a game a long time back - a fake punt. The punter took the snap as normal and instead of punting the ball he threw it underhanded (so the downfield players for the other team could see what was happening). It looked like a wobbly bad punt. The other team backed away from the ball to let it land, and the team "punting" basically just walked under it, caught it with no one around him, and then ran for an additional 30 yards while the other team was trying to figure out what was going on.

Very scenario occurred in 2002 MSHSL Semi-Finals between Plainview-Elgin-Millville and Albany.
PEM executed it to perfection. Generally always good idea to let officials know prior to game of anything unusual you may be trying so they are aware of it.
 
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This thread reminds me of the first time Nebraska played us at TCF bank when the joined the conference.

Their ballcarrier was at the 3 or 4 yard line about to score a TD and then before he crossed the goal line, fumbled the ball and the ball rolled into the end zone and then out of bounds.

The refs gave Nebraska the TD because the rule is that if the ball is fumbled out of bounds, the ball is placed at the spot where the ball went out of bounds. Because it went out of bounds in the end zone, it was a TD.

I think I've seen plays like this before where the refs didn't give them the TD.

Fumble rules involving the end-zone have always seemed somewhat confusing.
 

Very scenario occurred in 2002 MSHSL Semi-Finals between Plainview-Elgin-Millville and Albany.
PEM executed it to perfection. Generally always good idea to let officials riot to game of anything
unusual you may be trying so they are aware of it.

I don’t think they need encouragement.
 


In the NFL, to catch your own pass it needs to touch someone else first. In college you can directly catch your own pass. So yes, Seth could for a split second let go of the ball with both hands, then catch it, and he should get credit for a pass and reception. Again, not a good idea to do in a game, but the rules let 'em do that and get credited with both a passing TD and receiving TD all in the same play.

Didn't Brad Johnson catch a touchdown pass from himself in 1997?
 

Very scenario occurred in 2002 MSHSL Semi-Finals between Plainview-Elgin-Millville and Albany.
PEM executed it to perfection. Generally always good idea to let officials know prior to game of anything unusual you may be trying so they are aware of it.

A sad state of affairs when you need to warn the refs that they might need to know and apply the rules, but that is good advice.
 




This thread reminds me of the first time Nebraska played us at TCF bank when the joined the conference.

Their ballcarrier was at the 3 or 4 yard line about to score a TD and then before he crossed the goal line, fumbled the ball and the ball rolled into the end zone and then out of bounds.

The refs gave Nebraska the TD because the rule is that if the ball is fumbled out of bounds, the ball is placed at the spot where the ball went out of bounds. Because it went out of bounds in the end zone, it was a TD.

I think I've seen plays like this before where the refs didn't give them the TD.

1. That's not the rule, it's a touchback.
2. It never happened: https://youtu.be/Upw1Ho1hXCk
 




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