Quote:
Originally Posted by fbinsh
Yes the guy tapped the ball to keep it out of the end zone (but did not leave a hand on it) and it rested on the 1yrd line.
The guy chasing on the receiving team was there when it was tipped and was spinning on the ground and he kind of shuffle-kicked it into the end zone.
Was it dead as soon as the kicking team guy touched it and it rested on the 1yrd line?
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Well, which was it -- at rest, or spinning?
The ball's becoming dead always precedes the whistle (unless it's an inadvertent whistle), so it's possible (can't tell from your description) that it came to rest w no player attempting to further play it, in which case it would be dead before it was kicked, which could mean kicking it was delay of game or unsportsmanlike (have to see it to judge), a half-the-distance enforcement. If not, then it was a live ball illegally kicked.
If the latter, then the result of the play (ball put into & thru the end zone by team defending that goal) is a safety. However, if the kicking team declines the penalty for the illegal kick, the receiving team has the choice of the spot of the kicking team's illegal touch to have the receiving team put the ball in play from. If the kicking team accepts the penalty for the illegal kick, that cancels the receiving team's choice of spot of illegal touch. The basic spot becomes the post-scrimmage kick spot, which in this case is B's 20 yd. line (because the original kick didn't become dead until it went over B's end line, the status of the ball not changed by the subsequent illegal kicking of it), and then the spot of the foul is behind that point, so that's the enforcement spot. You'd go half the distance to B's goal line from the spot of the ball when it was illegally kicked.
So it makes hardly any difference whether you rule that the ball was already dead when it was kicked again, or the kicking wasn't intentional, or it was intentional & you go thru the rigamarole of choices. It's going to be the receiving team's 1st down either where the ball was or 50% closer to the goal line, which under the circumstances you describe would be almost the same place.