Seems like it was called correctly as Colts players knocked the ball back into their own end zone and recovered it, did not end up in a safety but as a touch-back because they didn't have clear possession of the ball until it was in their endzone. That's apparently the rule, which seems to have a few major holes in it:
With that rule, they could have just kicked/knocked it out of bounds and got a penalty on the Patriots.
Also its a completely different rule for punts which is crazy otherwise there would be no such think as a muffed punt fumble recovery as the Punt Returner never had clear possession of the ball.
I guess the difference is that on kickoffs they only start the clock when the receiving team clearly posses the ball and becomes live while on punts the clock starts on the snap as the ball is live on the snap.
But i still think the rule makes no sense and the ball should become live as soon as the receiving team touches the ball (not has clear possession) as like i said above: whats stopping the receiving team from knocking the ball out of bounds on a kickoff and getting a penalty on the kicking team? Just like a punt.
Seems like a strange loophole in the rules book that doesn't make much sense and at the time could have had a big impact on the game.
I saw this link of weird football rules, its an interesting read with some weird rules and some obvious ones tho. The conversion safety sounds ridiculous!!
http://wlogblog.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/15-strange-things-that-can-technically-happen-in-football/
They had one interesting rule that was similar to above but its not really the same scenario, its basically what happens in Rugby where a player puts one foot out of bounds and catches the ball in bounds making the kick technically go out of bounds.
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This one is just brilliant. in a 2008 game against the Bills, Leon Washington of the Jets was back deep to receive a kickoff when he noticed that the kick was a little sloppy and headed towards the sideline. Washington knew, like most people do, that if the kickoff went out of bounds before he touched it, the Bills would be given a penalty for kicking out-of-bounds. And he knew it would be a big penalty, too; out-of-bounds kicks give the receiving team their choice of the ball at the place where it went out, or at the 40 yard line (which is almost always better). So Washington prepared to let the ball sail outside of the white lines.
As the ball got closer, however, he realized he’d slightly misjudged the kick. Or perhaps the wind had given it a slight nudge towards the center of the field. Either way, it was looking like it was going to bounce inside, and that was a very bad situation for Washington. At that point, he was back at his own eight yard line, and it seemed like his options were bleak. It was too late to call for a fair catch, and he wasn’t in a good position to attempt a run. If he didn’t touch the ball it might go out of bounds, but there was just as good a chance it would bounce back inwards, maybe even backwards, where some Buffalo player could down it at the five (UPDATE: My friend Chris astutely points out that I must have been thinking of a punt when I wrote this. On a kickoff, the ball is live after it has travelled ten yards, even if untouched by the receiving team, so letting it bounce would definitely not have been an option for Washington).
And then Washington remembered that there is more than one way for a ball to be declared “out of bounds.” It can go out on its own, of course. But it can also be ruled out if it touches a player who is already out of bounds. And while going out of bounds and coming back in is a big penalty (going out, coming back in and then touching the ball is an even bigger one), there’s nothing against the rules about going out and staying out. So Washington put his right foot on the sideline, making himself an out-of bounds player. Then with the rest of his body he leaned in as far as he could towards the field, and snatched the ball, making what would have been a perfectly legal kick that could have been downed deep in Jets territory an illegal out-of-bounds kick that the Jets would get almost all the way near midfield. It was a clever play worth 32 yards of field position, and it could have been worth as many as 40. And it didn’t require any running on Washington’s part at all.
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