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Originally posted by coogrfan
Some friends of mine and I came up with the following situation(we attempted to answer by checking the digest of rules at NFL.com, without success):
Punt returner attempts to field a punt in his own end zone (I don't know why, temporary insanity perhaps?). The return man muffs the punt(fails to establish possession), and then recovers and is tackled, never leaving the end zone.
Questions
1) What is the correct ruling here, touchback or safety?
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Touchback. The impetus that sent the ball in touch was the kick.
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2) What would be the correct ruling if the punting team had recovered?
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Touchdown. They would have possession of a live ball in there own end zone.
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3) If the return man had successfully fielded the punt, fumbled in his own end zone and then recovered the ball, what would be the ruling?
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Touchback. The impetus that sent the ball in touch was the kick.
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4) Same question as 3), except that the punting team recovers.
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Touchdown. Possession of a live ball in the opponents end zone.
MJT or GolfNRef, if a screwed the pooch on any of these, let me know. I tried to answer without my NFL rulebook in front of me.