I have a couple of quick questions about (American) football:
What is a squib, exactly? From what I understand, it’s a low kick that bounces down field. Under what circumstances would a team choose to use one versus a standard kick?
When they call a penalty for an ineligible receiver downfield, what makes a receiver eligible/ineligible?
A squib kick is when you kick the ball in such a way that it flies in a low trajectory down the field and bounces along the ground. Because of its shape, a football will bounce unpredictably if it is kicks on it’s side like with a squib quick.
A receiver may be ineligible for a variety of reasons… the most common is that he is a lineman and hasn’t made himself eligible by telling the ref before the play starts.
To further expand on what **dolphinboy **said, a squib kick is usually used late in the half/game in order to minimize the chance of the other team running the thing all the way back. Odd bounces make it hard to field, it usually is fielded by one of the blockers around the 35 who are not exactly speed demons, and the bouncing trajectory allows the coverage team to close on the fielder quicker than a standard deep kick. When you kick a squib kick, you sacrifice putting the other team deep in order to have some big guy fumble with it for a second before the coverage team takes him down.
A receiver will also be considered inelligible if he steps out of bounds and then runs back in.
Squib kicks are popular when the field is muddy or slick, as it becomes very difficult to field the ball when it’s bounicing on such a surface.
Squib kicks usually give good field position, but little chance for an effective return, thus their use as the last play of the half or of the game.
They don’t have much practical purpose in the middle of a game when the weather is ok.
Receivers can not run out of bounds then come in and catch a ball, because it would create some potentially strange passing plays that might be impossible to defend.
In addition, running out of bounds does not automatically disqualify you from the play. Players may run out of bounds and back onto the field as long as they aren’t the first person to touch the ball. Pretty useless for pass plays–this rule most often comes into play on punts.
Ineligible receiver penalties occur most frequently when the quarterback is taking a long time to throw the ball and is scrambling. In the meantime, one of the offensive lineman thinks that the quarterback has forsaken a pass attempt and is going to run the ball, so he starts moving up field to block.
But then the QB stops short of the line of scrimmage and throws a forward pass. BINGO. Ineligible man downfield.
Also, on screen passes, short passes thrown to the side to a back normally, an offensive lineman may not wait long enough before he starts heading up field to block.
An ineligible receiver downfield is a 5-yard penalty, but I believe that if a receiver steps out of bounds and then is the first player to touch the ball, the only penalty is that the pass is ruled incomplete. But I may be wrong on that and that rule may vary between the NFL and college.
Perhaps in the near future, we will all be worrying about such distinctions.
On Squib kicks:
There is alot of debate on the use of squib kicks. As has been said, they are almost exclusively used on kickoffs near the end of a half. The ball is kicked low across the ground, typically down the middle of the field.
The real question is why. As has been said they generally are believed to offer a slimmer chance of a long return. This may be debatable, but the downside is you are virtually garunteeing that the team will take possesion near the 35 yardline or better. Its becoming unpopular to use squib kicks under any circumstances except when the clock is expected to run out during the kickoff. In otherwords, a case where the only way the team can give up a score is if the ball is run all the way back.
The reason squib kicks are thought to be safer plays is because most kick returns are designed to allow the blockers to set up a wall or a wedge in the time when the ball is high in the air. By kicking the ball shorter, but on the ground, it gets to the recievers faster, therefore disallowing the chance of a effective blocking scheme developing.
This is not true, the ball gets downfield much faster than an arching high kick. The ball gets there so fast that the blockers can’t set up, but it also means the coverage doesn’t get downfield as far before the return either. Its a double edged sword, and is the major reason why squib kicks usually offer such good field position. The majority of well kicked squibs are fielded at about the 5-10 yardline much like a typical kickoff, the return man however can usually make 15+ yards before even encountering a defender.
This reason is why squib kicks have become somehwat less commonly used. In the 80s you used to see a squib kick on nearly every kick with 2 minutes or less remaining. With the recent ability of QBs (and the West Coast offense) to drive the field in the 2-minute drill (read: Montana, Elway, Marino, Manning, Favre) for a score, its become a better gamble to kick it long than to allow for better field position. In the past when running games were the focus of nearly every offense, field position was less important in a short-time game, and the real risk was the big return. The odds of giving up a big return were better than the odds of a QBs driving the field in 90 seconds. With the new offenses, and the speed of kickoff coverages returns for TDs are getting rare and last minute drives are getting more common. In short, a good coach won’t squib kick unless the opposing offense is really bad, or the time is virtually nil.
On Eligible Recivers:
There are only ever 6 eligible recievers allowed on a given play. 4 of which are backs (QB, FB, RB or a flanker). Backs are simply any player lined up off the line of scrimmage. You must always line up with 7 men on the line of scrimmage. of the 7 men on the line of scrimmage only the players lined up on the end of the line are eligible recievers. These are typically Tight Ends or Split Ends. The term Wide Recievers is a generic term which doesn’t necessarily imply the man is on or off the line of scrimmage. All this said, a player is an “eligible reciever” based on where he is positioned at the snap following the above rules.
This isn’t nessecarily true. It implys that as long as a lineman declares himself eligible to the ref, he is…not true. The case you are indeed referencing is when a tackle declares himself eligible. A tackle may declare himself eligible if, and only if, he is the end man on the line of scrimmage. The act of declaring himself is because he typically doesn’t wear a permitted recievers number, and because the team has unbalanced the line of scrimmage.
The ineligible man downfield penalty is typically called when a ineligible reciever is more than 5 yards downfield on a pass which crossed the line of scrimmage. These are usally lineman on screens or broken plays. It could however be a tight end who is covered (meaning both lined up on the line of scrimmage on the same side of the ball) by a split end, or having two split ends on the same side of the ball. These formations are likely mistakes, but as long as they have the right number of men on the line of scrimmage, its not a penalty unless the inside guy goes downfield.
This is not true, a reciever who is out of bounds, and then comes back into the field of play and is the first one to touch the ball upon retunring to the field is guilty of “illegal participation”, not “ineligible man downfield”.
The difference is that regardless of where the ball is thrown, a play is a penalty if there is an illegal man downfield during an attempted pass. With “illegal participation” it is only a penalty if THAT player is thrown the ball, and he still can legally block for another ball carrier on that play.
A receiver is anyone who can legally catch the ball. This is related to both the players position in the offensive formation and the number on the jersey which said player wears. Number lower than 50 and greater than 79 indicate backs and receivers. If a player with a number other than in those ranges lines up in the backfield, or at the end of the line outside of the offensive tackle they can be eligible to receive the ball, but must report their eligibilty prior to each play.
Also a player lined up outside of the tackle can be made ineligible if another player lines up outside of them. In a three tight end scenario (say for goal line blocking) with a guard then a tackle then a tightend and another tightend all lined up next to each other the first tight end would be ineligible.
On the receiver running out of bounds I think they may retain their eligibility if the official believes that a defensive player pushed them out of bounds, but I cannot find a cite to support this.
MOST of the time, when the ref calls “ineligible receiver downfield,” it means there was a busted play (meaning, for non-fans, the play didn’t turn out as the quarterback intended).
Suppose quarterback Brian Griese was PLANNING to take a seven step drop, and throw the ball to Rod Smith deep downfield. Unfortunately for him, there’s a heavy pass rush right up the middle, and he has to start rolling out. Some of his offensive linemen SEE that the play has broken down and that Griese is running. They run in front of him, to clear a running lane. They may cross the line of scrimmage, thinking that Griese is going to keep runiing behind them. But as Griese approaches the line of scrimmage, he suddenly spots Ed McCaffrey WIDE OPEN, and throws a pass to McCaffrey.
TWEET! Once his blockers crossed the line of scrimmage, there were too many potential receivers downfield, and Griese was no longer allowed to pass. Once his blockers were past the line of scrimmage, Griese’s only real option was to follow their lead, and keep running.
As for squib kicks, as mentioned before, they’re ONLY a good idea in a few siutations. Basically, it comes down to this: if there are only a few seconds left in a game, and the kick returner is a dangerous speedster, like Tim Dwight, it MIGHT be safer to make a weak kick to a big, hulking blocker, than to kick it deep, and give Dwight a chance to run the ball back all the way.
The negative side is, you’re guaranteeing your opponent good field position (around his own 40 yard line). The upside is, you pretty much guarantee that there won’t be a big runback.
Of course… if you remember that famous playoff game between the Bills & the Titans… didn’t the Titans win the game on a lateral pass, following a squib kick?