I guess you could even say that there are an infinite number of impossible scores! 
Not really as you can’t score an infinite amount of points. I would put the maximum score at about 3600 to 0. A regulation game is 60 minutes, which equals 3600 seconds. The average play in football lasts about 5-6 seconds. One team can score on every play if every play was a successful onside kick that resulted in a touchdown. So we have one team onside kicking and scoring a touchdown every play, resulting in a touchdown every 6 seconds, or one point per second.
I can’t imagine this ever happening but it does give us an approximate maximum score. So we can say that there’s about 3600 impossible scores, being every combination of 1 to n where n equals 1 through 3600…
While we’re on the topic, what, exactly, is an onside kick? I saw it attempted once, I believe by the Michigan Wolverines the last time they were at the Rose Bowl. My understanding is that as soon as a player of the kicking team touches the ball after a kick, it is downed at that that spot and posession is turned over to the recieving team.
an onside kick is a short kick designed to allow the kicking team to retain possession. As long as the ball travels 10 yards and the opposing team touches the ball first, the kicking team hopes to cause a fumble or benefit from a dropped ball- not exactly a high percentage play, and usually leaves the recieving team with great field position, so its generally a desperation play.
Any kickoff that travels over 10 yards is a “free ball” and belongs to the team that recovers it. A successfull onside kick is recovered by the kicking team.
The opposing team doesn’t even have to touch the ball (That’s only on punts). After the kickoff, it’s a free ball that either team can recover, as long as it goes at least 10 yards.
Frank #2 has just proven that there is an even larger infinity of impossible scores. Not only are 1-2, 1-3, etc. impossible, but any score larger than (approximately) 3600-3600 is impossible! The number of possible scores is finite however.
This is just getting silly. And also far away from the OP’s questions.
The maximum possible score is the time for the fastest player to run from his 35, catch the kickoff on the bounce and get to the endzone, divided into 60 minutes. Since many of those guys can run 100 in under 5 seconds, I’d say a max score of around 5000 would be “reasonable.”
I’m not sure that the receiving team has to touch the ball first – if that were so, the receiving team could defend an onside kick attempt by simply lining up WAY back from the ball, and then running away if the ball came near them.
IIRC, after 10 yards, the ball is free for either side to claim.
:eek:
Either you meant “100 feet” or those guys are playing on motorcycles.
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I forgot to add a point about onsides kick – the ball doesn’t have to be touched by an opponent first, but it must hit the ground before the kicking team can retrieve it. Kickers have learned to kick the ball hard into the turf in front of them, causing a high, tricky bounce and fulfilling the “hit-the-ground” requirement.
An onside kick does not have to touch the ground for it to be recovered. It just has to pass over the imaginary plane describing 10 yards from where the ball is kicked.
Some teams try to pop up the kick off and run under it. But bouncing the ball high off the ground seems to be in vogue now.
You are correct … my mistake.
From the NFL Digest of Rules:
I remember sitting through one game at Taylor Field several years ago where the score was 1-0 after the first quarter. Scoring picked up in the second quarter, but I was half hoping that would be the final score, just to be able to say that I was there when it happened.
On a related note, the Hamilton Ti-Cats had a baaad game tonight. At halftime, the score was T.O. 28, Ti-Cats 0. Ossie kicked a rouge early in the 3rd quarter, making the score 28-1. T.O. responded throughout the third and fourth quarters, and with a minute left to go the score was 49-1. Finally, at 14.04 of the fourth, the Ti-Cats scored a touchdown, so they finished the game at 49-8. (By that time, it was the Ti-Cat’s fourth string QB against T.O.'s third string defence, so I’m not surprised they finally pushed through - essentially just practice scrimmage.)
Oh, and by way: Go Riders!!
100 yards in 5 seconds? Even Ben Johnson never ran that fast…
BTW, I think I know why an onside kick is called that. In Canadian football (and presumably in American football if you go back far enough) any kick can be recovered by anone who is onside. This includes the kicker, anyone who was behind the kicker, and anyone whom the kicker passed as he runs downfield. Ordinarily, on a punt, only the punter is onside, but on a kickoff everyone is onside (else there will be an offside penalty). Thus the only remnant in American football is on a kickoff. Maybe also on the free kick that follows a safety, I don’t know about that.
One consequence of this is that there is no such thing in Canadian football of a punt rolling dead, since the punter will be only too happy to come down and fall on it. He (and anyone else who is onside) is also the only player that is allowed within a 5 yard circle when a player on the receiving team fields the punt. But someone must field it. I have seen punts recovered by the kicker. Not often, but it happens, usually when the punt returner is a green player fresh from the US and he is thinking (if he is thinking at all) that the ball will roll dead.
How about this one:
A player is running for an apparent TD, but fumbles and the ball bounces across the goal line, and then out of bounds. Is it a TD or a touchback which goes over to the other team?
Or a player recieves a punt or kickoff, fumbles, the other team gets the ball momentarily, and fumbles through the end zone as above. Same result?
(Oh, and the Cornhuskers will be back..... someday)I think the ball is spotted at the point where the fumble occurred and the offense keeps posession. This exact event happened during a Giants-Eagles game last year, but I can’t remember the ref’s ruling.
This would probably be the same ruling.
I will live dangerously and not consult the NFL rules page I linked to above …
Provided the ballcarrier did not get the ball across the goal line, a fumble that rolls out of the end zone would be a touchback. My imperfect memory recalls seeing such plays occur every now and then.
Not so fast, my friend … okay, I went and checked:
On a kickoff the clock doesn’t start until the ball is touched. If the kickoff is recovered by the kicking team in the endzone, no time has expired and 6 points have been scored. The clock doesn’t run for the PAT, so again no time has run off. It is theoretically possible to score an infinite number of points in a football game.
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They are entitled to try for the extra points anyway.
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Main in motion is a way to move one of your offense of player into a different pattern or play before the ball is snapped. It gets a receiver lined up on the left side to the right side etc. There are penalties for not doing it right…If the wrong person moves or its down at the wrong time etc…it becomes an Illegal procedure…and results in a penalty.
I believe it’s has to do with what they are responsible for covering…I think the free safety is just that….he is free to roam around, since the offense has a quarterback, there is one extra defense of guy for all the rest of the offense of players defending, running or going out…the free safety can roam around where needed…except in a zone…in zones they have areas they cover…
I believe there is also a strong and a weak side of the field…the strong side is the side the tight end lines up on offense….the weak is the other side…sometimes players are designated as such…weak side linebacker…strong side etc…a safety the same way.