Offside on kick-off, NFL/NAFL rules

[wwcfoa43]

Some of our guys are going to be working our second NAFL soon and so we are studying the NFL/NAFL rules.

Situation (NFL/NAFL rules): The kicking team is offside on the kick-off. The ball is caught and returned to the receiving team's 30 yard line.

Ruling?

The reason I ask is because I was watching the Bills/Steelers game last night and this rare situation happened and the officials enforced from succeeding spot (where the ball was dead) instead of from the previous spot. In the NAFL rule book, my reading of this puts the enforcement at this at the previous spot.

So either the crew made a mistake, the NAFL and NFL rules differ on this or I have missed something in the NAFL rulebook?

[Jim D]

6-5-b For kicking team offsides; Loss of 5 yards from the previous spot or the succeeding spot.

I guess R gets to chose the enforcement spot????

[wwcfoa43]

Is 6-5-b an NFL rule reference?

For NAFL (2006) 6-1-5-b only mentions the previous spot.

[Jim D]

Yes that is from the 2007 NFL rulebook. The NAFL rulebook seems to be pretty much a cut and paste version of the rulebook, but of course no one sits down and compares each line. I do find it odd that the NFL says either spot is the enforcement spot.

[Jim D]

It's that way in the 2008 NAFL rules. Send me your email and I'll send you a copy. It's on page 38.

[wwcfoa43]

Okay I checked in the 2007 NAFL rule book (which I just managed to find) and it does indeed now list both options for offside on the kicking team.

I didn't see this in the list of 2007 NFL rule changes so the NAFL must have corrected this difference.

[JugglingReferee]

This rule was new to the NFL back in '06, IIRC.