Mandatory Safety?

Originally Posted by ljudge

I was reading up on force / safety / touchback over the weekend and thought of a scenario that I want to run by everyone.

Note - I realize the situation calls for the team A coach to take an intentional safety but let's say it didn't happen (just to clarify this rule).

Play:

A's ball 4th and 10 on their own 2 with :07 left in the game leading by 6 points. Punter K34 muffs the snap close to the endline and throws an illegal forward pass from his endzone. :02 remains on the clock after the play.

Team B would obviously want to decline the penalty and have the ball 1st and G at the 2 for the final play. But they can't do this. Whether team B accepts or declines the penalty they have no option but to take the safety (as per rule 7-5-3) because declining the foul team B would have to take the ball from the end of the run which is in the endzone, hence a safety. Now he's down by 4 and has only 2 seconds to score a TD from a free kick which would be somewhere around a 50-yard return for a TD....a much longer shot.

I say team B has to accept a safety against A even though they won't want to.

Agree or Disagree?

Agree 1oo% because either way it is a safety.