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Ok, so I've searched all day just to get to this point, but now there are questions that I simply cannot find on the internet... So, in the NFL this weekend, a team had punted, a player from the kicking team ran down to attempt to down the punt short of the endzone, as the ball was coming down he accidently stepped into the endzone a couple steps, then tried to sorta get back out to tip the ball back, but either way when he touched the ball he was in the endzone, so this was clearly a touchback, BUT this sparked up some debate...
So first of all, I stated that in either the NFL or college that there is no tipping the ball back, because once it crosses the plane of the endzone the ball is a touchback. After searching for it, this is true in college, once the ball breaks the plain, it is a touchback, but an interesting part of this is that the player tipping the ball back into play can be in the endzone, this does not matter, only the position of the ball, much like a runner trying to score a touchdown. So anyway, the other point was that we both knew that if that player jumps from out of bounds, or jumps and 1of his feet were in the endzone, and that successfully bats the ball backwards, to the 2 yard line say, that this is a touchback. Now the discussion was whether the player can step into the endzone, and then reestablish his position on the 2 yard line, and then tip the ball back in. Now his argument was that it's like going out of bounds and then coming back in, there is something that is tracked saying you have been in the endzone, and now if you touch the ball, even if it's just laying at the 8 yard line, it is a touchback. My point was that it's more like saving a ball in basketball, that it's the fact that you're jumping from the endzone that makes you a part of the endzone, so if i run around in the endzone like an idiot for 2 seconds, then the ball starts coming down at the 2, then I run out of the endzone, have both feet at the 2 yard line, standing there for 2 seconds, then I catch it there, it can be down at the 2 yard line. (haha, yes that would be a high punt for all that to happen, but it's a hypothetical) Any info is appreciated.
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