I’m interpreting the rouge definition to mean that a run-of-the-mill missed field goal (ball sails out the back of the end zone on the fly), still gives the kicking team one point. Is this correct?
I know CFL end zones are very deep, but it still seems like this would happen pretty often. Does it?
Yes, singles on missed FG attempts are fairly common. They mostly happen from punts however.
To correct an error in an earlier post. there is no such thing as a ball rolling dead in Canadian football. It is always live and can be recovered by any member of the kicking team who is onside. If it is recovered in the end zone, it is a TD for the kicking team. Who is onside? The kicker is by definitiion. Anyway who was behind the kicker when he kicked is onside. And anyone who is passed by the kicker as he runs downfield is onside. But the only player I have ever seen actually recover a kick has been the kicker. Maybe a couple times every season, the receiving team is watching the ball roll and the punter comes and recovers. Generally it is too dangerous to field a rolling punt, so if they don’t catch it in the air, they let it roll to a stop before fielding it and if they wait too long, the punter may come and recover it. For that matter, the punter is also allowed to be inside the five yard zone around the receiver when he picks up the ball, which is not permitted to an offside player. Note also that there is no “downing” a punt by the kicking team either. That is technically an infraction even in American football, but the penalty is loss of possession, which is meaningless. But there is a signal, which is fingertips on the shoulders and I noticed it used in one of the playoff games the past weekend.
Anyway, the bottom line in Canadian football is that inbounds punts must be fielded by one or the other team. They cannot roll dead and cannot be downed.
I’ve not noticed it happening that often. (The end zones are 20 yards deep, BTW.) It might be because on a field goal, the kicker is always trying for accuracy, and not yardage, unlike the punt or the kick-off.
The defence normally puts a man in the endzone on field goal attempts, and the most common thing is to see him catch the ball on a miss, then run around in the endzone to chew up the clock before taking a knee and ceding a point. The defence doesn’t try to run it out that often, except in a close game, since even if they get it out, odds are they’ll have lousy field position. Better to cede the point and start from their 35.
Hari, just wanted to point out that I did not say that the ball “rolled dead” I said it “became dead.” They are two very different things, in my usage I mean that the ball is not advanced out of the endzone. A ball becomes dead when the person carrying it is tackled.
OK I still don’t get it then.
BobT wrote:
If this is so then how did the Titians get to kick the ball again in OT last week? I can understand the second time but not the first. He missed the first time so shouldn’t it have been turned over to Pitt? Someone want to explain it to me? or am I just really blind and not see it here?
There was a penalty on the missed field goal, so that play was nullified. A Steeler ran into the Tennessee kicker.
I got that part and understand it, what I don’t get is that they kicked it three times. The first he missed, the second he got hit and the third he made it. Why did they get to kick it the second time? Or was there some penalty that I missed because I don’t remember missing one. That and I do remember them saying that they should have run one more play, it was third down, to get closer. I really don’t remember any penalty on the first kick.
I believe Edward has the order wrong.
The first kick was “good”, but the defense had called timeout before the play. So no play was ruled. (That was when the fireworks were setoff).
Then the second kick, off to the right but a penalty, running into the kicker. Then the third kick. And it was after that the Pittsburgh coach agrued his team had called timeout again.