kick play

[Bob M.]

REPLY: cougar729...The two rules you're looking for are:

• NF 6-1-5 (free kicks) as grantsrc pointed out, and
• NF 6-2-4 (scrimmage kicks)

And grantsrc is precisely right as to the rationale: On free kicks since the ball is 'free' beyond the neutral zone, K cannot gain any advantage by forcing contact between R and the ball. Just like he can't gain any advantage by forcing contact on a scrimmage kick behind the neutral zone. That's why the Fed rules are silent on those situations. Conversely, he can gain a huge advantage by forcing contact in the NZ for free kicks and beyond the NZ for scrimmage kicks. That's why the two rules are written to ignore that touching.

And grant...you're right. If the touching were to have occurred in the NZ in the original play, that touching would be ignored and result in a free kick OOB infraction.