NFL Touchback on Punts

[bisonlj]

Originally Posted by Bullycon

In the original post, I said the ball never breaks the plane.

The airborne K player recovers the ball, and while still airborne, his foot strikes the pylon. He then carries the ball out of bounds at the 1. The ball never breaks the plane of the goal line. In NFHS, this is R ball at the 1, because the position of the player doesn't matter.

In NFL, I'm wondering if striking the pylon technically puts the runner in the endzone, and therefore a touchback. Looks like most people think the answer is yes.

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

The position of the player does not matter in relation to the end zone. But it does matter that this player is out of bounds when he contacts the ball. The ball is out of bounds when it contacts that player and the ball will be placed at the inbounds spot. I assume that is somewhere between the goal line and the 1 since you said the ball never reached the goal line. It's irrelevant where he lands because the ball is dead as soon as he touches it.