Is there ever a situation where punting on 3rd down makes sense? I’ve heard of this happening but can’t wrap my head around a situation where you would want to do this.
Basically if you figure you will never get a first down anyway(ie 3 and 27 ) So you have the QB do a quick pooch punt while nobody is back to return it so it will roll and roll to wherever it can.
Just spitballing here. Your starting QB goes out in the first drive. The backup comes in to finish the game. He gets his bell rung in some way on 2nd down such that he needs several minutes before he can come back. If you bring in the emergency QB, you can’t put the backup back in the game until the fourth quarter, so maybe just punt it away on 3rd and let the backup come back in next possession.
Then again, after having watched a couple seasons with the wildcat I’m not sure if you are actually required to have one of your declared QBs on the field for any given play. I always thought you were, but I saw Sanchez on the sidelines an awful lot last week while Brad Smith – a WR – took snaps. According to their unoffical depth chart Kellen Clemens is the backup and Smith is a WR behind Braylon Edwards. Meaning they had many plays where no QB was on the field, so I guess this idea doesn’t apply.
Yes, I once saw a punt go 80 yards on 3rd down. It was a great call, since it was 3rd and 25.
Exactly. I know I saw Randall Cunningham do it at some point, though I’ll be darned if I remember the context…but I’m betting it was 3rd-and-long.
Punting on 3rd and real long is an underused good tactic. i think coaches fear what will be said about them.
kind of like that is when a team is down by 3 touchdowns has the ball with 30 seconds left and keeps calling time-out and trying to score.
you see this a lot. i mean, come on. you’re still a man. just run out the clock.
It’s a good idea if you’re in Canada.
I remember one Alabama game in the late 1970s where the Crimson Tide used a “quick kick” by the quarterback several times to great effect. Bear Bryant used a wishbone offense which was not conducive to passing on third and long. So for that one game he had several players practice quick kicks. I don’t think it would be a good strategy on a long term basis… defensive coaches would start keeping a player deep and you could get a long return if the regular offensive team doesn’t know how to cover properly.
I think the Randall Cunningham punt happened from 3rd and long, back up against his own end zone, so rather than drop back for a long pass and risk the safety, he quick punted over the defenses heads, and the ball kept rolling for something like an 80 yard net.
It wasn’t the only time Cunningham punted on 3rd down. He was one of the last of the old time punting quarterbacks.
I think Danny White used to punt on 3rd down sometimes too when he was both the starting QB and the punter for the Dallas Cowboys (and I’m pretty sure he’s the last QB to do that).
I also remember Joe Theismann trying a 3rd down punt one time that went straight sideways off his foot out of bounds for a one yard punt.
I remember Tom Brady punting on 3rd down, but I think they were at midfield. Which is kind of crazy.
Tom Tupa was pressed into that role for the Jets after Vinny’s achilles exploded.
I misremembered the down. It was 4th and 10 on the Dolphin 37. Looks like they lined up as if to go for it and Brady pooched it right over their heads. Worked pretty well, too, since it was downed at the 1.
I’m pretty sure this was a normal 4th down punt. Theismann was trying to fill in for the injured punter.
If the punter is injured normally the place kicker will punt.
Pepper Rodgers at Georgia Tech used to do it a lot. Several times a season. 3rd and long. Back in the days when defense ruled, football games were won with field position.
Like in today Jets/Bengals game. Jay Feely, the Jets’ place kicker had to punt.
Gibbs and Theismann were in the broadcast booth and they showed Theismann’s punt. Gibbs said they went to backup QB Jay Schroeder to punt then. He never mentioned why he didn’t want Mark Mosley to punt.
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Mark Moseley, the last of the straight on full time place-kickers. Dick Borgognone played two games for the Vikings back in the mid-90’s. he was striaght on kicker.
Moseley was AP NFL MVP back in 1982, which is a honor usually reserved for QBs and Running Backs.
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It was 91 yards - this came up on the 98 yard punt thread just a couple days ago. Video here, though it doesn’t show how far the ball rolled.
Isn’t that an incomplete pass though? If not what is the difference between the two? I thought you had to declare that you were kicking in order for this to work?
Are kickers now all gay? 
You a Redskins fan, nfm?