illegal man downfield on botched, but successful punt
 

I didn't hear any explanation of a botched punt the other night on Thanksgiving when the Seattle punter dropped the snap, ran around to the right and eventually got the punt off. I would think an illegal man downfield would be likely on such a play, but there was no flag. Does the botched snap negate the possibility of illegal MDF?

There are 2 methods that've been used over the 40 yrs. this rule has been in effect that teams have used to avoid being ineligibly downfield. One is timing, and that one is vulnerable to give up fouls in cases like this. The other is to wait to hear the ball being kicked.

I believe that rule is no longer in effect if the kicker runs outside of the tackle box.

Negative...rule is still in effect

As is the case ALWAYS, it depends on which rules code you're referring to.

I think it's pretty clear that this post is about an NFL game.

And I stand corrected.

I will say that NFL teams are pretty disciplined in not taking off down field until the call has been made by a teammate that the ball has been kicked or the play is blown.

I'm still amazed at how many HS *head* coaches think this is a rule at the HS level.

And a better one. About 10 years ago, we had a school whose coach decided he could draw a DPI by faking a punt and throwing a high, almost straight up in the air pass. Unfortunately, he forgot about the ineligible player rule. Once they even committed OPI. (I got the honor of flagging that one) He quit trying to run it.