NF play.

[Bob M.]

REPLY: phreaqhopp...first of all, I've been called many things in my years on the field. "Dude" isn't one of them. But no offense taken. Here's what's got me (and apparently others) confused: You asked your question a while back but included with it a statement that is patently untrue:

Originally posted by phreaqhopp

Does the captain of team R really need to "advise" the Ref that he wishes to put the ball in play by "snap"? A free kick could be attempted and also be put into play by snap simultaneously. The Drop Kick.

The answer to your question is "no." Putting the ball in play by 'snap' is pretty much the default. If the coach/captain knew the rule that allowed him to free kick and asked for that option, by all means we would set up for the free kick and instruct both teams about what's going to happen since probably neither of them would have ever seen it. After 27 years of doing this, I've never seen it! Likewise, I would not ask the captain explicitly if he wanted to free kick. I would inform him that if the penalty was accepted, he would still retain the options he had on the prior down following his fair catch.

BUT...since your question was then followed by a statement that said that they could put the ball in play by a free kick and snap simultaneously by attempting a drop kick, we were justifiably confused. Since snap and free kick are mutually exclusive, we no longer understood the context in which you asked the question.