Thread: Muffed Punt
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Old Sat Aug 31, 2013, 12:19pm
Robert Goodman Robert Goodman is offline
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The bounce on the ground doesn't change the status of a kick from scrimmage that's on the receiving team's side of the expanded neutral zone. The official who signaled TD either didn't know the rule or thought the player from B had gained possession by the top of his fingers, which if he had a foot on the ground is conceivable albeit unlikely, in which case the kick ends and the again-loose ball is a fumble or pass which could be caught & advanced. Otherwise the ruling of dead ball at the spot of recovery is correct.

However, when you wrote that the punt was not a very good one, could it be that it bounced to the kicking team's side of, or close to, the neutral zone? If it looked like that might've been the case, that could've been the point of disagreement between the officials. The official signaling TD might've thought so. If it was in or on the team A's side of the neutral zone, either side could recover & advance the ball.
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