Another reason (but more likely to be seen at lower levels) is when you’re facing 3rd and long, but with a strong wind at your back, going into the end of the quarter. May be better than to run a play and punt into the wind after the break.
You never have to say you’re punting. You can punt on any down as long as it’s behind the line of scrimmage. A punt is most certainly not in any way the same as a forward pass.
Used to be an avid fan, back in the Kilmer/Riggins/Theisman and yes Moseley days.
It is hard for me to get committed to any team these days, in any sport. After the 1994 baseball strike, I became really bitter. My favorite uncle, a former minor league baseball player, was a devoted baseball fan. He died in November, 1994. The strike deprived my uncle of his last World Series.
Exactly. A “quick kick” is, essentially, a punt that the defense isn’t expecting.
When a team punts normally, they send out the punter, the long snapper (who is almost always not the usual center), and a bunch of other special-teamers. 99.99% of the time, this is done on 4th down (honestly, I can’t think of a reason why you’d do this on any down other than 4th, unless you had no confidence whatsoever that you offense could take care of the ball on a prior down). The defense thus knows that there’s a punt coming (unless the offense is planning a fake punt, but a good special-teams coach plans for that), and sends out their punt-coverage team, including a returner, who’s going to position himself 40-50 yards downfield.
When a team runs a “quick kick”, it’s almost always done on third-and-long (as in the Randall Cunningham example), and it’s almost always done using normal offensive personnel. It does require a quarterback (or whoever’s receiving the snap) who’s a decent punter. You run a quick-kick when you think you’ve got the element of surprise, since the advantage to a quick kick is that the defense doesn’t know it’s coming. They don’t have a returner stationed downfield, and, so, the odds are strong that the punt will be able to bounce/roll, getting additional yardage.
Regardless of which down you punt on, when you punt, the other team takes possession of the ball where the punt ends (or where the return ends, if it’s returned). So, it’s very different from throwing a long incomplete pass (on which the ball comes back to the previous line of scrimmage).
But there’s clearly a defensive player back deep on that play near midfield (It looks like #30m but I can’t tell for sure) who decides not to field the punt. So I don’t think this was a surprise quick kick.
So do the same rules apply as in a regular punt? Meaning if the opposing team touches the ball can the kicking team recover and retain possession?
I know this sounds like a dumb semantic question here but is the only thing that differentiates a “punt” from a “pass” the fact that you are moving the ball with your foot instead of your hand? Is this why a punt on 3rd down is not an incomplete pass, but a hail-mary thrown on the same down by the same QB an incomplete pass?
Not sure I’m asking this question right.
Yes x4
Last question on this, as I still think it’s bizarre.
If it’s 3rd down and I punt, it touches a linemans helmet, bounces down field and my team mate recovers it is it now 1st down? Are those yards counted as yards gained during the game?
I assume you mean a defensive lineman, here. And I believe the key difference is which side of the line of scrimmage the defender is on when the ball touches him. The defender can try and block the kick before it passes the line of scrimmage. In that case, there’s been no change of possession, and the down doesn’t reset, so even if the kicking team does get it back, they probably don’t have enough yards for a first down. It would take either a very very very bizarre bounce all the way to the first down marker or a very very bizarre bounce to your teammate blocking plus a crazy run by your teammate to reach the first down marker. I think this would be an offensive play and count the yardage.
Once the ball passes the line of scrimmage, and a defender (on the receiving team) touches it, I think possession has changed and so whoever ends up with the ball gets a first down. For stats, this would be a kick plus a fumble, not offensive yardage.
Yeah, that’s my understanding as well. Far more common (though still not very common at all) is a defender trying to block the punt only gets a piece of it, making the punt weak but still go 30 yards or so. In that case the punting team can’t just fall on it and recover possession because the defender touched the ball on the wrong side of the line of scrimmage.
They don’t need to gain control of the ball for possession to change? This is different than a failed interception attempt then, where they can jump up, swat the ball, bumble it around for a while, but don’t gain control before the ball hits the ground? In that case possession doesn’t change. But with a quick undeclared punt those rules don’t apply any more? All it takes is a fingertip to change possession?
Depends on how you view possession. Technically it changes from being in possession of the receiving team to a live ball in nobody’s possession, meaning anyone on the field can jump on it just like a fumble.
If it gets knocked out of bounds during the live ball phase, possession reverts back to the last team that had possession, also just like a fumble.
Basically, once the receiving team touches the ball past the line of scrimmage it’s a fumble. (Though for stat purposes it’s called a “muff”, not a fumble, if the returner tried to catch it and failed.)
On a punt downfield, correct.
Also, if the punter has the punt blocked (behind the line of scrimmage), it’s a loose ball (fumble), and the defense can pick it up and advance. video
Yep, so basically the line of scrimmage is a magical line that once the ball passes, it’s receiver’s possession even if a member of the receiving team got a piece of it. But until it crosses the line of scrimmage it’s a live ball. After crossing the line of scrimmage it’s not live unless/until a member of the receiving team touches it.
EXCEPT, heh, if the receiver calls for a fair catch and bobbles it. Even though he touched the ball and doesn’t have possession, the punting team cannot touch him or the ball until the ball hits the ground. Otherwise it’s a fair catch interference call.
I think the “hit the ground” isn’t written in stone, in that if the punt bounces of the guy’s helmet and launches in the air 20 feet away I don’t think there’s an issue with fair catch interference if you run over and catch it, but I don’t the precise rule for that situation.
Yeah, it looks like the Eagles were lined up in punt formation, but with their regular offense on the field, so probably the Giants had a chance to drop someone back (though hard to tell, and I don’t remember clearly enough, if they had enough time for the guy to get all the way back, and he’d have been a free safety or cornerback or something and not a regular punt returner).
I was at a Florida game during Steve Spurrier’s tenure as coach there. He decided to punt on a 3rd down simply because he was so frustrated by his offense’s performance that day.
You do it if you want to pin the other team deep in their territory, and you have confidence that your defense will be able to stop the other team.
Back in the day, when offenses were not nearly so potent, this was a common strategy.
The rules aren’t identical. if you don’t line up for a punt I don’t believe the punter gets protection from the defense, in other words no roughing the kicker calls.
November 27, 1925: #1 ranked University of Michigan plays creampuff Northwestern at Soldier Field in Chicago. After buckets of rain had flooded the field, it had become little more than a mudpit. From George Beres: One Man's View... (bolding mine):
Michigan had won its previous five games by a combined score of 180-0. But Northwestern’s field goal won this game, costing Michigan the national championship.
I highly recommend the link above for the full entertaining account of the game.
ETA: Later in the game, Northwestern took an intentional safety to secure the 3-2 win.
Not always.