When does the clock start? (NF)

[l3will]

Originally posted by Daryl H. Long

It was a great question and so far even though I disagree with many in the post at least I like that they are justifying their answers with rules citations.

The difficult part we are have is agreeing on what caused the clock to stop. The foul? (I say no) or the recovery of the scrimmage kick? ( which I say both ended the down AND stopped the clock).

Sure you stop the clock when K recovers the kick beyond the line of scrimmage. The question is when does the clock start.

If either team is awarded a first down (the chains are reset and a new line to gain is established), then the clock will restart when the ball is snapped.

If neither team is awarded a first down (the line to gain remains the same) because of a foul, then the clock would be restarted on the ready if the kick did not go out of bounds, or the clock did not stop because of an incomplete pass (legal or illegal), fair catch, or touchback or score.

Look through the entire list of things that stop the clock.
Rule 3.4.4 a through i. and Rule 3.5.7. (officials time-outs) a. through m. The one that applies when there is no penalty and K recovers a muffed kick beyond the line is
3.5.7. b. "When a first down is declared" since there was no change of team possession. If R recovers and is downed, then 3.5.7 c. "Following a change of team possession" and 3.5.7. b. 3.5.9 comes into play too. With a foul then it is 3.5.7. j. These are all "official's timeouts".

Notice that you don't see recovery of a legal kick beyond the line in any of them.

Okay, we have administered the penalty.... Did a new line to gain get established for either team? Yes... then we start the clock on the snap. No... K has retained possession and the line to gain remains the same and we are replaying the down. Then the clock would start on the ready for play.

Then looking at 3.4.2 a. The clock shall start with the ready-for-play signal for other than a free kick if the clock was stopped:
a) For an official's time-out; other tha when B is awarded a new series or either team is awarded a new series following a legal kick.
(If the line to gain is re-established, then we don't start the clock until the ball is snapped, if the line to gain remains the same then we start on the ready.)