NFL Onside Kicks

[supermathis]

Recently, my friends and I were discussing football situations after watching the Monday Night Football game.

The topic of onside kicks came up and we ended up having a friendly argument. I couldn't find an answer anywhere else, so I thought I would ask some knowledgeble experts.

The question was, on a onside kick situation, is it legal for the kicking team to recover an onside kick that was kicked high in the air without touching the ground or the opposing player and travels over 10 yards?

We thought if this was legal, wouldn't it be easier for the kicking to kick it high in the air and the receiving team and the kicking team go at it like a jump ball instead of the traditional onside kick we're all familiar with.


On a similar subject, we also had an argument if the receiving team can use the fair catch on Kick-offs?

Anybody know?