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+----- Thread: OT - double punt in last night's NFL game (/thread-931519.html)
OT - double punt in last night's NFL game - Fort Bend Owl - 10-08-2021 07:21 AM
Bizarre play last night if you didn't see it already - Seattle punter Michael Dickson punts it twice on the same play and it counts as a legal play. The initial punt was blocked, but Dickson was able to pick it up and then pooch punt it a 2nd time right at the line of scrimmage (heck of a pooch punt though - it went for 68 yards!). A flag was initially thrown and the announcers were saying it would be a penalty but the refs picked up the flag and said the play was legal.
The refs for sure missed illegal men downfield on Seattle's part (because the NFL does have a rule against the line guys going downfield ahead of a punt unlike HS or college, but if you're saying the first punt isn't really a punt, then for sure you should throw a flag on the illegal men downfield). From a stats standpoint, I'm assuming you pretty much ignore the 1st punt altogether (and the Rams guy misses out on a block) - I don't know how you could record the play otherwise.
ETA - I took off the initial You Tube video (but you can find it yourself by doing a search on NFL double punt Seattle). Here's a video on Seattle talking about the play afterwards. That video has snippets of the block and both punts. Dickson's Aussie background allows him to do that 2nd rugby or Aussie Rules football kick quite easily, although it was still a heck of a play by him considering the circumstances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDqJ550ZBl0
RE: OT - double punt in last night's NFL game - RiceLad15 - 10-08-2021 07:38 AM
Thanks for sharing! It looks like the announcers were incorrect on a second kick being illegal. So long as the ball stays behind the line of scrimmage, it can be kicked a second time.
I'm thinking that the second kick doesn't negate the first, so therefore the linemen down field after Kick #1 aren't illegal.
RE: OT - double punt in last night's NFL game - franklyconfused - 10-08-2021 08:47 AM
The penalty for ineligible linemen downfield should be called when the kick crosses the neutral zone. It's the same enforcement as for a forward pass. The first kick never did cross, so it was perfectly legal, like a screen pass caught behind the line of scrimmage. That video doesn't have a good angle, but I doubt the second kick was all on the up and up.
As a former high school specialist, I'm always happy to see these little edge cases that even some coaches don't know can happen. Here's hoping the NFL revisits its rules to make certain that this kick would be legal in the future (though I do understand that the ineligible downfield call goes a long way to making sure at least some punts are returnable).