You make the call

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by scrounge

I'm not sure there's really all that much distinction. As we see in the definition of a legal scrimmage kick in Fed:

ART. 4 . . . A scrimmage kick is any kick from in or behind the neutral zone during a scrimmage down. Either a place kick, punt, or drop kick may be used. For a place kick, the ball must be controlled on the ground or on a legal kicking tee by a teammate.

In the OP, we have a ball that is falling over, but just hasn't fallen all the way over. Even if barely falling, that doesn't sound like controlled on the ground or on a legal kicking tee by a teammate to me. Intent of the kicker doesn't matter here, so I still have illegal kicking.

What makes you say intent of the kicker doesn't matter? 9-7-1 says "No player shall intentionally kick the ball other than as a free or scrimmage kick." And since that's the thing that makes it subject to penalty, then the intention of the player is what it's all about. Looks to me like the intention of the player was to make a place kick. The fact that he didn't succeed is irrelevant.