Explain the rule on McCann's punt return?

[proline]

The announcers said that even if McCann had fumbled during the return, the ball still would have belonged to the Cowboys. I think they said something about "Illegal Touching" being the reason. If anybody can shed some light on the details of how this works on this particular play I would appreciate it.

 

[HeavyBarrel]

Sorry, not gonna c&p right from the rulebook but basically if ANY punt team player touches the ball first and the ball is still live, a punt return player can pick the ball up and run with it with no danger of turning the ball over to the other team, it's certainly one of the most unusual and unknown rules in the NFL.

 

[TheCount]

Sorry, not gonna c&p right from the rulebook but basically if ANY punt team player touches the ball first and the ball is still live, a punt return player can pick the ball up and run with it with no danger of turning the ball over to the other team, it's certainly one of the most unusual and unknown rules in the NFL.

Because it should be dead where it's touched, shouldn't it?

 

[Staggerlee]

When the punting team touches the ball first its actually a penalty, and the receiving team chooses to take the ball where it is at or where the team first touched it (i believe thats how the rule works). so because the punting team touched it first (initiating the penalty) even if mcann had fumbled it they could just chose to accept the penalty where the player touched it, thus giving them the ball back. If thats wrong someone can correct me.

 

[TheCount]

When the punting team touches the ball first its actually a penalty, and the receiving team chooses to take the ball where it is at or where the team first touched it (i believe thats how the rule works). so because the punting team touched it first (initiating the penalty) even if mcann had fumbled it they could just chose to accept the penalty where the player touched it, thus giving them the ball back. If thats wrong someone can correct me.

It is???

 

[HoosierCowboy]

to end the play the kisking team must down the ball, not just touch it--it is a strange rule, would make more sense if the receiving team could still return it if it's not downed (not just touched) but if they fumble it can be recovered

 

[Doomsday101]

The announcers said that even if McCann had fumbled during the return, the ball still would have belonged to the Cowboys. I think they said something about "Illegal Touching" being the reason. If anybody can shed some light on the details of how this works on this particular play I would appreciate it.

Once the punt team touches the ball it can be picked up by the return team since the ball is not dead. If by chance McCann fumbles the ball Dallas would still get the ball where it was 1st touched by the punt team

 

[Don Corleone]

This was a very intelligent and heads up play by McCann. I would love to hear his thoughts on how the play developed.

 

[aikemirv]

Because it should be dead where it's touched, shouldn't it?

The rule is there I think for 2 reasons:

#1. If a punt team trys to down it by throwing it from the endzone back into the field of play but does not "down" it and it ends up going back into the end zone it should be a touchback. This makes a team "down" it under control in the field of play.

#2 It prevents a punt team from knocking it into a punt return player creating a muff/fumble scenario

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I didn't know that about the rule but none of it matters cause McCann, for the second week in a row, made the most of the oppurtunity that was before him.

 

[superpunk]

This was a very intelligent and heads up play by McCann. I would love to hear his thoughts on how the play developed.

He said that DeCamillis told him that (after the first couple that Wendling knocked back) if they do that again, he'd like to see McCann return it. It was DeCamillis' idea.

 

[Doomsday101]

I didn't know that about the rule but none of it matters cause McCann, for the second week in a row, made the most of the oppurtunity that was before him.

Yes he did and it was a big boost to the club when they needed it the most. Had McCann not been heads up on the play your looking at yet another situatin where the Cowboys would have been pinned by their own goal line. Det punter was doing a great job with putting the ball inside the 10

 

[Staggerlee]

It is???

Im not positive and i dont think its the type of thing they throw a flag for so penalty may be misleading but i remember reading that it is against the rules or "illegal" or something like that so the receiving team can actually either take it where the ball currently is, or where the punting team actually touched it first, seeing as it almost always is in the same spot either way, it never gets mentioned much.

 

[speedkilz88]

Any member of the punting team may down the ball anywhere in the field of play. However, it is illegal touching (Official’s time out and receiver’s ball at spot of illegal touching). This foul does not offset any foul by receivers during the down.

Illegal touching

 

[proline]

The rule is there I think for 2 reasons:

#1. If a punt team trys to down it by throwing it from the endzone back into the field of play but does not "down" it and it ends up going back into the end zone it should be a touchback. This makes a team "down" it under control in the field of play.

#2 It prevents a punt team from knocking it into a punt return player creating a muff/fumble scenario

#2 makes a lot of sense. But it would still seem like if the receiving team chooses to gain possession and make a "football move", then if they fumble the kicking team could recover.

 

[Cowboys22]

Because it should be dead where it's touched, shouldn't it?

Not if knocked backwards. In that case it is still live but for some reason they made the rule that after that the receiving team cannot fumble. If the punting team knocks it forward, it is dead and placed at the spot of the touch.

 

[aikemirv]

#2 makes a lot of sense. But it would still seem like if the receiving team chooses to gain possession and make a "football move", then if they fumble the kicking team could recover.

Yeah, you would think!

 

[bsheeern]

11. A punted ball remains a kicked ball until it is declared dead or in possession of either team.
12. Any member of the punting team may down the ball anywhere in the field of play. However, it is illegal touching (Official's time out and receiver's ball at spot of illegal touching). This foul does not offset any foul by receivers during the down.
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.

So therefore if we had fumbled the ball it would still be our ball at the spot the detroit originally touched the ball. Its not a penalty that recieves a flag but a blue bag is dropped by the official to mark the spot at which the ball was first touched.

 

[dargonking999]

The Rule is simple,if the kicking team touches the ball first it is considered "illegal touching". In that case the return team gets the option to either take the ball where it was first touched, or to take the end result of the play. The rule is to prevent the kicking team to intentally "tap" or "guide" the ball down the field in order to extend the punt.

Instance 1

The ball is bounced off the kicking team's leg at the 15, but downed at the 5. The ball would be placed at the 15, because it touched the kicking teams leg.

Another reason for this rule is to prevent the kicking team from intentially forcing a fumble.

Instance 2

The ball bounces over the head of the return man and the kicking team taps the ball off the guys back and then recovers the now loose ball. The return team retains possesion of the ball at the spot where the kicking team "tapped" the ball

Now of course the sidebar of this rule is that because the team has the option, once a member of the kicking team touches the football, the return team cannot lose so tospeak. No matter the end result of the play, they can always choose to return to the spot it was orginally touched if they didn't like the result.

 

[Baileyneverfailey]

#2 makes a lot of sense. But it would still seem like if the receiving team chooses to gain possession and make a "football move", then if they fumble the kicking team could recover.

Not really. Much like defensive offsides, it gives you a free play. You can throw a pick or fumble the ball away when the defense jumps too and it doesn't matter, because they already committed the foul.