Kick - Legal or illegal?

[Ed Hickland]

Reviewing last year's film, A's ball 4th and 8 at their 35. Ball is snapped to A39 who is in position to kick the ball at his 20. Ball sails over his head to the 10 yard line. A39 chases the ball and when he gets to the 10 he is facing his goal line. He then kicks the ball with his foot which sails through and out of the end zone.

Here is my long question. According to the rule (2-23-1, 2-31-8) his act of kicking the ball makes him a kicker as he is behind the neutral zone and his foot struck the ball albeit the direction of his kick is backwards as he intends. I flagged the spot where the ball was kicked and awarded a safety (8-5-2b). However, I now believe the act of kicking the ball was legal and no flag should have been thrown. Which is correct?

[BktBallRef]

Ed, your post isn't clear. Did he pick the ball up and kick it or did he kick it while it was on the ground?

[whitehat52]

Ed

Basketballl ref has the question that has to be answered before we can give you a ruling. If K had control of the ball before he kicked it you do not have a penalty, the direction of the kick has no bearing. If he kicked the ball as it was rolling on the ground or after it had stopped but before he had possession, then you have a penalty for illegal kicking. This is a 15 yard penalty under the all but one.

[Ed Hickland]

That is important as to whether he handled the ball or not. In this case he simply kicked the ball without even attempting to handled it.

[mcrowder]

But don't you have a 15-yard penalty from the spot of the kick ... a penalty that will likely be declined and the safety (result of the play) accepted?

[Ed Hickland]

Originally Posted by mcrowder

But don't you have a 15-yard penalty from the spot of the kick ... a penalty that will likely be declined and the safety (result of the play) accepted?

Correct or in this case a half the distance.

The question came up do you give the option or simply award a safety?

[Bob M.]

REPLY: Then your flag was appropriate. In order to be a legal kick it must either be a free kick (this wasn't) or a scrimmage kick (NF 9-7-1). A scrimmage kick must either be a punt, a place kick, or a drop kick. All three of these are defined in 2-23. Your kicker's actions don't qualify. It was an illegal kick.

[Jim D]

This is an illegal kick as everyone has mentioned. The result of the play is a safety. The penalty, if accepted, would be enforced from the spot of the foul (10 yard line) so you have K's ball 4th & 38 from the 5 so R may decline the penalty and go for good field position. This is a loose ball play and the offense fouled behind the basic (previous) spot.