# NFL: Can a player who catches a pass kick the ball forward? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 12, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315 "2004-11-12T02:14:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/1 "2004-11-12T02:14:20Z")
In the CFL, a receiver is allowed to kick the ball forward. It’s usually a desperation play, as in the recent Western semi-final, where Edmonton tried it on the last play, unsuccessfully. Calgary also tried it this season, and the player who caught the kick ran it for a touchdown, but the officials held he wasn’t onside and therefore couldn’t catch the ball, as explained in [this article](http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Calgary/2004/10/24/683628.html): > [@](#): > > In the dying seconds of the contest, Stampeders slotback Mike Juhasz grabbed a Khari Jones pass before promptly booting the ball downfield, where speedy Stamps receiver Sulecio Sanford scooped it up and barrelled into the endzone. > … > CFL director of officiating George Black said yesterday he has yet to see the league’s game film. > > “It was an unusual play. We don’t see that play very often where you have an open-field kick,” said Black, adding he won’t see league film of the game until tomorrow at the earliest. > > "The rule is quite simply a kicker or any onside player on either a kick from scrimmage or an open-field kick, which is what we call the one (Friday) night, onside players and kickers are eligible to pick up the ball. If they’re offside, we have a no-yards situation. Is this play allowed in the NFL? ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/2 "2004-11-12T02:22:12Z")
Short answer, no. Long answer, > [@NFL Rules](#): > > No player may deliberately kick any ball except as a punt, dropkick, or placekick. ---
**Author:** ![me\_paso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@me\_paso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/me_paso)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/3 "2004-11-12T02:22:29Z")
I wouldn’t think it is. I’ve never seen an NFL player do such a thing. A kick could be considered as a fumble. But it could also be considered as a pass. And passes are only allowed behind the line of scrimmage. But in the NFL, I’m not sure how exactly you would get the time to kick a ball if you have people guarding you and could easily be blocked. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/4 "2004-11-12T02:27:14Z")
> [@Northern Piper](#): > > In the CFL, a receiver is allowed to kick the ball forward. It’s usually a desperation play, as in the recent Western semi-final, where Edmonton tried it on the last play, unsuccessfully. > > Is this play allowed in the NFL? Any player can recover (and advance) a kick-off kick. This is usually seen in onside kick attempts near teh end of teh game. You cannot punt the ball and recover it yourself or have any player on your team recover it unless the other team touches it first. I do not bleive you can advance the ball if the other team muffs the catch. You can only recover it I believe. Note it is perfectly legal (or at lest used to be) to punt the ball in any situation whether behind or in advance of the line of scrimmage, but you give up possession of teh ball. You may in any situation also try to kick a field goal using a drop kick. In a drop kick, you drop the ball and kick it just as or after it touches the gorund. If it goes through the uprights it’s a field goal just like a kick from scrimmage. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/5 "2004-11-12T02:53:21Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > … > > You may in any situation also try to kick a field goal using a drop kick. In a drop kick, you drop the ball and kick it just as or after it touches the gorund. If it goes through the uprights it’s a field goal just like a kick from scrimmage. My Dad and I were just talking about the drop kick. He remembers seeing it but I have never seen one. Is it still in the NFL rulebook? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/6 "2004-11-12T02:55:31Z")
I would think it’s a pretty low percentage play, isn’t it? There’s a reason they have a holder on field goals… ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/7 "2004-11-12T02:56:48Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > You cannot punt the ball and recover it yourself or have any player on your team recover it unless the other team touches it first. A punt that does not cross the line of scrimmage (because it is blocked or muffed) can be recovered the kicking team. However, if the they doesn’t gain enough yardage for a first down, they turn the ball over. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/8 "2004-11-12T02:59:41Z")
Could someone enlighten this poor young’n about the drop kick? ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/9 "2004-11-12T03:05:17Z")
> [@Ace309](#): > > Could someone enlighten this poor young’n about the drop kick? From what I understand it is exactly as **OldGuy** describes it in the last paragraph of his post. It does indeed sound like a low percentage play which is no doubt why it isn’t used but ISTR it was in the NFL rules in the 1970s at least and I was wondering if it still is now. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/10 "2004-11-12T03:06:17Z")
In a drop kick, you drop the ball onto the ground and then kick it after it bounces. It can be used where a place kick (with a holder) is used, but it’s such a low percentage play that no one uses it. When the rule was established, the ball was considerably rounder than it is today, so it would bounce in such a way that it could be kicked with some accuracy, but the ball has been made more oblong to faciliate passing, so if you tried a drop kick, you’d be hard pressed to make good contact. The rule has remained on the books, and pros are welcome to try it, but I couldn’t imagine any situation where it’d be worth the risk. ---
**Author:** ![adirondack\_mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@adirondack\_mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adirondack_mike)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/11 "2004-11-12T04:05:25Z")
You might be thinking of a [fair catch kick.](http://www.packers.com/news/stories/2004/09/16/2/) ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/12 "2004-11-12T04:09:14Z")
You can no longer legally punt, place-kick, or drop-kick the ball from beyond the line of scrimmage in either NFL or NCAA football. If you kick from behind the line of scrimmage, and the ball crosses the line, you cannot recover it unless and until it touches a member of the receiving team first. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/13 "2004-11-12T04:44:30Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > In a drop kick, you drop the ball onto the ground and then kick it after it bounces. It can be used where a place kick (with a holder) is used, but it’s such a low percentage play that no one uses it. > > When the rule was established, the ball was considerably rounder than it is today, so it would bounce in such a way that it could be kicked with some accuracy, but the ball has been made more oblong to faciliate passing, so if you tried a drop kick, you’d be hard pressed to make good contact. > > The rule has remained on the books, and pros are welcome to try it, but I couldn’t imagine any situation where it’d be worth the risk. Former NFL quarterback Jim McMahon was apparently a real aficionado of the drop kick and practiced it frequently, but never got the chance to try it in a game. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/14 "2004-11-12T04:49:27Z")
> [@Freddy the Pig](#): > > If you kick from behind the line of scrimmage, and the ball crosses the line, you cannot recover it unless and until it touches a member of the receiving team first. Then how do you do the short kick mentioned by **Old Guy**? ---
**Author:** ![TastesLikeBurning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@TastesLikeBurning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TastesLikeBurning)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/15 "2004-11-12T05:15:20Z")
Drop kicks are a long gone feature of Australian Rules Football, where it wasn’t uncommon for those good at it to kick the ball consistently around the 85 metre mark. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/16 "2004-11-12T05:34:12Z")
> [@Northern Piper](#): > > Then how do you do the short kick mentioned by **Old Guy**? Because kickoffs and kicks from scrimmage are treated separately. On a kickoff (you know, at the beginning of each half and after scores, when they all line up and boot it off the tee), the kicking team is permitted to recover the ball once it travels ten yards, whether the receiving team touches the ball or not. On a kick from scrimmage, which includes all other legal kicks – i.e. punts and field goal attempts – the rule to which **Freddy** referred kicks (har!) into effect. On a punt or a field goal, the kicking team can’t regain possession of the ball unless the other team touches it first. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/17 "2004-11-13T00:45:10Z")
> [@adirondack\_mike](#): > > You might be thinking of a [fair catch kick.](http://www.packers.com/news/stories/2004/09/16/2/) Thanks for the link. Very informative. Sounds like the kind of thing Bill Bellichick might try one of these days. I’m pretty sure the drop kick is a completely different animal though. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/18 "2004-11-13T01:01:26Z")
The drop kick used to be the way field goals were taken in American football. Until about the 1920s and 1930s when the football’s shape started to change. Watch “Jim Thorpe All American” to get an idea of how it works. If the football were still “drop kickable” as it were, it would be used today in a situation where there was a broken play such as a bad snap and the kicker picks up the ball rolls out and tries to drop kick the field goal instead of place kicking it. I would be very surprised if anyone made one with today’s footballs. The fair catch kick exists at the NFL and high school level, but not at the college level, which is fairly rare. Usually high school rules are closer to college rules. I’ve seen one fair catch kick attempted in my life. The 49ers tried one on a Monday Night game in Dallas about 20 years ago. Ray Wersching missed. Bill Parcells is known to practice the play and the proper formation for it. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-can-a-player-who-catches-a-pass-kick-the-ball-forward/274315/19 "2004-11-13T06:44:45Z")
> [@Jimmy Chitwood](#): > > Because kickoffs and kicks from scrimmage are treated separately. Gotcha, thanks! I was thinking they were the same. > [@adirondack\_mike](#): > > You might be thinking of a [fair catch kick](http://www.packers.com/news/stories/2004/09/16/2/). We have an opposite play in the CFL, a kick to _prevent_ a score in a close game. If the score is really tight towards the end of the game, and the team in possession tries for a field goal and misses, they still score a single point if the defending team can’t get the ball out of the goal zone. So the defenders always post a man in the goal zone, whose job is to get the ball out if possible. One way to do that is to kick it out, and hope to goodness that the other team doesn’t catch it and run it back in for a touchdown.