I was not at the game, but it was described to me at our
last official's meeting and from other descriptions I heard:
Kick Off Return-- team R player returns for an apparent TD-
BUT
drops the ball on the 2 yard line (must be he mistakingly thought
he was in the end zone)
the ball lies on the ground for (I'm really not sure how long)
-- covering official correctly does not signal TD and makes no
signal or any other indication-------
eventually a player from K picks up the ball and tries to hand it
to the covering official who backs off ---- finally a player from
R comes over and attempting to take ball from player K --
covering official blows his whistle and points to a change of
possesion for team K-- 1st down !!!!
-----------------------------------
at the meeting-- everyone thought that it was the correct call-
but as I thought more about it----
I think the covering official should have blown his whistle
originally when the ball lie grounded with no one in possesion
and no one trying to gain possesion---- and the ball should have
been rules in possesion of team R (last in team possesion)
with first and goal for them at the 2 yard line !
-----------------------------------
reaction ????

You are correct it should have been blown dead and given to R. 4-2-2e
When any loose ball is on the ground motionless and no player attempts to secure possession the ball is dead and the down is ended

but wouldn't the other player coming to it make it not grounded with no one attempting to possess it?

I guess it would depend on how long it took the other player to come to get it. You are right if there was a short period I would not kill the play. If several seconds went by with no action then I would finally sound the whistle and award to team B. This situation comes up sometimes on incomplete backward pass where both teams assume it is an incomplete pass and the ball lies there for a period before someone fiqures out what has happened.

It's a matter of judgement. You can't wait there all day. The closest I've see to this was a botched free kick that went all of 5 yards, no one from team-R was interested in going to the ball, not one from team-K wanted to go near it either... wait... one thousand one, one thousand two.. TWEET, play over.

That's about all the time one should need to make the judgement call.

One of our crews had something similar this past weekend when K went for a field goal with 1 sec left in the half but it is blocked. Apparently neither coach knew or bothered to teach his players that field goal attempts are just scrimmage kicks that can score 3 points and they reacted as if it was a blocked try. The ball lay on the ground motionless for about 3 seconds but a K player was walking towards straight towards it and starting to bend over. K2 picks it up but then starts heading for the sideline. One of the coaches had realized what was going on and was yelling, "It's a live ball!" K2 then runs in for a touchdown but mulitple K and R players had left their sidelines and entered the field, believeing it was halftime, so the officials called offsetting illegal participation fouls and made them re-kick. Kick was good. They couldn't use the motionless with no-one trying to recover it as the player was walking, albiet slowly, towards the ball obviously going to pick it up. I want to get the film of this for taining purposes.

McC

I saw the first play described on the TV highlight show. The ball would not have been considered at rest with no player trying to gain control as the K player almost immediately went for the ball. The interesting situation was the K player just standing at the two with the ball and an R player standing in front of him, but no one moving. Looked like they were jawing a little bit. The covering official then kills it (forward progress stopped!). I think the official did it right all the way around.
As far as the second scenario, just because the players in the team bench area enter the field does not necessarily mean an illegal participation foul. The players who come on the field would have had to made an attempt to participate in the play. Otherwise it is a nonplayer foul that should be penalized as a dead ball foul (succeeding spot). See 9-6-3, 9-8-1-i, 10-4-4-c.

I'd like a copy of the film...
 

BulldogMcC-
If you get the film can I send you a blank tape for a copy?
Thanks