A rules question (and did Bill miss a trick) - New England Patriots Forums

snafu · 01-04-2011, 04:29 PM

Ok. I have been thinking about the 2007 season game vs the Ravens. After we scored the touchdown, there were 2 personal fouls committed by the Ravens which resulted in us kicking-off from the Ravens 40 yrd line.

What would have happened if we had kicked the ball out of bounds?

The rule stipulates, I believe, that the ball will be placed 30 yards from the spot of the kick-off. So in this scenario, the ball would have been placed on the Ravens 10 yard line!!!

Did Bill miss a trick here? I was thinking about it as soon as it happened but thought that I might be mistaken in my assumption.

Can the receiving team decline the penalty and ask he ball to be placed at the point of it going out of bounds?

TriplecHamp · 01-04-2011, 04:35 PM

per wikipedia

Quote:

If the ball goes out of bounds without being touched by a player, the receiving team can choose either to have the ball moved back 5 yards and re-kicked, to take the ball 30 yards (25 yards under National Federation high school rules) past the spot of the kick (usually at their own 40-yard line), or to take the ball where it went out of bounds. However, on an onside kick, if the ball does not travel ten yards before the kicking team recovers the ball, they will take a 5-yard penalty and has the chance to kick another onside kick. If the onside kick goes less than 10 yards again, the receiving team will receive the ball at the spot the kicking team recovered it. However, if the receiving team touches the ball before it goes 10 yards, either team can recover it unpenalized.

snafu · 01-04-2011, 04:41 PM

Thanks for the info.

I figured it would be something like that.

xmarkd400x · 01-04-2011, 04:52 PM

This is how I recall it:

Bill asked the refs about a couple of scenarios. The refs could not state with certainty how some of them would play out, so BB went for the touchback.

***ctpatsfan77*** · 01-04-2011, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snafu

Ok. I have been thinking about the 2007 season game vs the Ravens. After we scored the touchdown, there were 2 personal fouls committed by the Ravens which resulted in us kicking-off from the Ravens 40 yrd line.

What would have happened if we had kicked the ball out of bounds?

The rule stipulates, I believe, that the ball will be placed 30 yards from the spot of the kick-off. So in this scenario, the ball would have been placed on the Ravens 10 yard line!!!

Did Bill miss a trick here? I was thinking about it as soon as it happened but thought that I might be mistaken in my assumption.

Can the receiving team decline the penalty and ask he ball to be placed at the point of it going out of bounds?

Actually, it was 2 fouls and an offsides, so it was a kickoff from the Ratbird 35; an OOB kick would have gone to the 5.

That said, I would have done what nobody expected, and let Gostkowski kick a squib kick ~12 yards or so and let him fall on it.

[BB apparently said something odd at the presser about half the distance to the goalline, which just would not have applied.]