Free Kick Option

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by Mike L

Hey Bob,

what if time has not expired yet? Say it's a tie game and 2 seconds are left. "A" elects to free-kick after the original play above (maybe they are further out, making the field goal attempt a little more dicey and therefore the free kick option more attractive).
When do you start the clock?

I'm not Bob, but you start the clock as would on every other free kick. The timing is no different than if it is a free kick after a score.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by Kirby

I'm not Bob, but you start the clock as would on every other free kick. The timing is no different than if it is a free kick after a score.

This I know, but what does that mean in the grand scheme of things (consider the field goal attempt is good)and do you explain that to the coach once he indicates his choice to free kick?

[Bob M.]

Originally Posted by Mike L

This I know, but what does that mean in the grand scheme of things (consider the field goal attempt is good)and do you explain that to the coach once he indicates his choice to free kick?

REPLY: No...I wouldn't necessarily explain all the ramifications of his choice to free kick. If he knew enough to request the free kick, I'm going to trust that he knows how a free kick is administered and how the clock behaves during a free kick. Would you do it differently?

[Warrenkicker]

Since A, or K, knows what he is trying I wouldn't explain much to him. However B, or R, might have no clue and needs to have some things explained to him as to what exactly is going on. All he needs to know is that to him this is a kickoff from a different spot and that it can score 3 points. That tells him all the rules about timing and possession he needs to know about.

[Bob M.]

REPLY: Kirby's right. And think about this...if the free kick makes it to the goal line, the clock won't start at all. It will be R's ball 1-10 with 2 seconds left...provided, of course, that the attempt was unsuccessful.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by Bob M.

REPLY: Kirby's right. And think about this...if the free kick makes it to the goal line, the clock won't start at all. It will be R's ball 1-10 with 2 seconds left...provided, of course, that the attempt was unsuccessful.

Yeah, but also think about the consequences if the kick is good. Are we not going to have a score with no time expired and now "A/K" kicking off? Since all this is a pretty unusual situation, I think it might be prudent to explain that to the coach beforehand because I'd bet you'll be doing some explaining after. And it might be a good idea to go over some of the fun that could happen during said kick off with the crew.

[MJT]

When the coach tells you he is planning to free kick after the FC, with 2 seconds left, I don't think it would be a problem to tell him the clock will not start at all if the kick makes it to the EZ, or is no good, and that there would still be 2 seconds left. I would tell him that cuz if he is close enough he may choose to do a regular scrimmage kick to run out the clock, although I'd take my chances doing a pouch kick. The odds of something going wrong there are much less than the scrimmage kick getting blocked and returned.

[Bob M.]

Originally Posted by MJT

When the coach tells you he is planning to free kick after the FC, with 2 seconds left, I don't think it would be a problem to tell him the clock will not start at all if the kick makes it to the EZ, or is no good, and that there would still be 2 seconds left. I would tell him that cuz if he is close enough he may choose to do a regular scrimmage kick to run out the clock, although I'd take my chances doing a pouch kick. The odds of something going wrong there are much less than the scrimmage kick getting blocked and returned.

REPLY: Since it's after a FC, why wouldn't he just run a safe scrimmage play. No reason to attempt any kind of free kick if he wanted to run out the clock.

[MJT]

One of us is confused Bob. I thought they were talking about B's coach wanting to kick a FK after FC to win the game after fielding the ball with 2 seconds left. In that case he may want to know the clock would not start at all if the kick was good or not good but made it to the GL. Maybe I totally missed the point of the question.

[Bob M.]

REPLY: I guess we were just talking past each other. I thought you were saying you'd tell him about the clock so that he could make a pooch kick or some other kind of kick where it would be legally touched and the clock would start. I was just asking that if he was concerned about the clock not possibly starting, why not just run a play from scrimmage.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Bob M.

REPLY: Kirby's right. And think about this...if the free kick makes it to the goal line, the clock won't start at all. It will be R's ball 1-10 with 2 seconds left...provided, of course, that the attempt was unsuccessful.

And, considering that there's no way K can score other than via FG -- in Fed they can't advance their own free kick, and the ball is dead once it crosses the goal line plane and its failure to score a goal is evident -- what's the smart and legal way for R to play it?

To avoid any chance of their committing a foul, can they leave all their players off the field, saying they're just playing 11 short for that down? What if K calls and is given time out, and team R tries that at the resumption -- is it failure to be ready in a timely fashion for resumption of play?

Robert