Rules: Punt Question

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Standard punt play...you punt it out to your opponents 30 yard line, and the punting team gets their first and deflects the ball even further, and the ball comes to rest at the 20 yard line. Where is the ball placed?

The 30 yard line right? The ball is downed where it was touched.

Now take the exact same scenario. The ball is punted to your opponents 5 yard line, and the punting team gets their first with their wild and crazy panic to save the ball from going into the endzone (even when the ball is basically resting at the 2 some guy on the team you bet on will inevitably come flying in and kick it out of the back of the endzone), and the ball is knocked from the 5 yard line and into the endzone. NOW where is the ball placed? The 20.

Am I missing something here?
 

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  • If a player from the kicking team is the first to touch the ball after it crosses the line of scrimmage, "illegal touching" is called and the receiving team gains possession at the spot where the illegal touching occurred. This is often not considered to be detrimental to the kicking team; for example, it is common for a player on the kicking team deliberately to make contact with the ball near the goal line before it enters the end zone to prevent a touchback. Since there is no further yardage penalty awarded, the kicking team is often said to have "downed the ball" when this occurs (and the NFL does not count it as an official penalty). While the ball is not automatically dead upon an illegal touch, and can be advanced by the receiving team (who would then have the choice of accepting the result of the play or taking the ball at the spot of the illegal touch), this rarely happens in practice, as illegal touching typically occurs when members of the kicking team are closer to the ball than members of the receiving team.

Scrimmage kicks: scrimmage kicks are punts, field goals and extra point tries. Scrimmage kicks are different from free kicks in that once the kick crosses the line of scrimmage, the kicking team may not possess the ball unless it has been touched first by the receiving team. So if the kicking team runs down and jumps on a punt at the five (untouched by the receiving team), the ball will belong to the receiving team at that spot. Field goals are treated the same as punts (except for rules about where the ball comes back to if it is untouched or out of bounds)(you can line up in high school and college with a place kicker and attempt a field goal from your own 5 if you don't have a punter..not sure about the NFL in that regard).


Illegal touching (called first touching in high school..many of you may recognize that) is a violation, not a foul, in that there is no penalty prescribed for the committing of the illegal touching and it cannot combine with any other foul to create a double or multiple foul..meaning it can't offset if the receiving team does something wrong. This is why there is not a flag thrown for the illegal touching of a kick, only a beanbag (usually..sometimes it's so obvious it's not needed.)
When can illegal touching occur? Illegal touching can occur on a free kick if the kicking team is the first to touch the ball before it has traveled 10 yards or before it has been touched inside that 10 yards by the receiving team. Illegal touching will occur on a scrimmage kick (punt) if the kicking team is the first to touch the ball after it has crossed the LOS. It should be marked with a beanbag if the ball continues in play. Illegal touching of a kick has nothing to do with whether a player has gone out of bounds or not.
What does it mean? It means that once the kicking team has been the first to touch the kick (intentionally or not..the kicking team is responsible to know where they are in relation to the ball and the returner), then the receiving team can do anything they want...except foul...and always come back to the spot of illegal touching..or have the choice of spots of illegal touching if there are more than one. Even if the receiving team picks up the ball, runs 80 yards, fumbles and the kicking team returns it for a touchdown, the ball is going to come back to the spot of illegal touching and be the receiving team's ball 1st and 10. An accepted foul by either team cancels the spot of illegal touching, that is why the officials will continue to officiate the play as if the touching had not occured i.e. signal possession for the kicking team if the receiving team muffs or fumbles the ball after the illegal touch.

If the illegal touch occurs after the ball has broken the plane of the goal line, the illegal touching spot will be the 20 yard line (touchback). That is why the kicking team tries to bat it back before it breaks the plane.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
DID THIS HAPPEN?????--if not you are correct ball should be downed at the spot..............................
 

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