Roughing the kicker rules

[James Neil]

We’ve been skirting a few issues here that I think are important. NFL may be different but under NF rules this kick was not over. The kick doesn’t end until a player gains possession of the ball or it becomes dead by rule. A player isn’t a kicker until he has legally kicked the ball and he continues to be the kicker until he has had a reasonable opportunity to regain his balance. The fact that his kicking foot has touched the ground after he kicked the ball has no bearing on his status as a kicker, when the kick ends or when he can be contacted. To me the foul called in this game was a classic example of running into the kicker. IMHO