# What happens if the kick-off reciever punts the ball back? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-kick-off-reciever-punts-the-ball-back/433020 "2008-01-10T19:48:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 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:** [January 11, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-kick-off-reciever-punts-the-ball-back/433020/21 "2008-01-11T16:29:10Z")
As others have established, the current rule governing punts, NFL and college, is very similar to that governing passes: punts may only be executed on scrimmage plays, before a change of possession, behind the line of scrimmage. This wasn’t always a case, and there was a time when both “return kicks” and punts from beyond the line of scrimmage were legal. I’ve never seen a “return kick”, but I’ve read that they were not unknown in early Twentieth Century football. The rules and the shape of the ball in that era made passing much more difficult, and football was more of a grind-it-out field position game. If the other team was over-pressing on punt or kickoff coverage, you could gain field position by kicking the ball back to them and hoping that it would travel over everybody’s head and bounce and bounce. I _have_ seen a punt from beyond the line of scrimmage, at a time when such a play was legal. It was executed on fourth down, by Danny White, in a Monday Night Football game in 1981. He fumbled a poor snap in punt formation and had to scramble. When an NFL punter has to punt on the run, his team often incurs a penalty because the gunners go downfield before the kick. However, the penalty didn’t apply when the punter crossed the line of scrimmage. White _deliberately_ crossed the line of scrimmage before punting and thus avoided the penalty. (The refs threw a flag but then picked it up, and explained why.) At some time afterward the rule was changed, and beyond-the-line punts are now illegal. The non-fourth-down quick kick, of course, is still legal, and if one watches enough NFL or college football, one will see perhaps one such kick per season. ---
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-kick-off-reciever-punts-the-ball-back/433020/22 "2008-01-11T23:05:52Z")
For the record, Randall Cunningham punted [20 times](http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/CunnRa00.htm?redir) in his career (as **bordelond** said), and John Elway punted [7 times](http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/E/ElwaJo00.htm). ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-kick-off-reciever-punts-the-ball-back/433020/23 "2008-01-12T09:39:15Z")
is it legal to score a field goal by a punt-style kick instead of the usual way? (i.e. with the ball held on the ground)? And if so, why isnt it done? ---
**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:** [January 12, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-kick-off-reciever-punts-the-ball-back/433020/24 "2008-01-12T14:11:39Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] is it legal to score a field goal by a punt-style kick instead of the usual way? (i.e. with the ball held on the ground)? And if so, why isnt it done? [/QUOTE] Don’t know if there’s any rules against it, but I would think it’s a lot harder to drop-kick with the accuracy needed to score a goal, compared to place-kicking. With a punt, the goal is usually distance, with some general aiming (e.g. - coffin corner kicks), but not the same precision needed for a goal. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-kick-off-reciever-punts-the-ball-back/433020/25 "2008-01-12T15:22:08Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] is it legal to score a field goal by a punt-style kick instead of the usual way? (i.e. with the ball held on the ground)? And if so, why isnt it done? [/QUOTE] To add to what **Piper** wrote – no, a punt can’t be used to kick a field goal as the ball doesn’t touch the ground. A [drop-kick](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df5gfG3ZA7g) can be used (essentially executed like a punt, except that the ball drops all the way to the ground before shoe contacts ball). ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-kick-off-reciever-punts-the-ball-back/433020/26 "2008-01-12T16:20:30Z")
[QUOTE=Intelligently Designed] For the record, Randall Cunningham punted [20 times](http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/CunnRa00.htm?redir) in his career (as **bordelond** said), and John Elway punted [7 times](http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/E/ElwaJo00.htm). [/QUOTE] Joe Theisman did it at least once as well (for 1 yard…it went almost perfectly sideways), and Danny White, of course, was both the Cowboys’ QB and punter…probably the last player ever to simultaneously hold both positions. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-kick-off-reciever-punts-the-ball-back/433020/27 "2008-01-12T18:28:44Z")
> [@](#): > > To add to what Piper wrote – no, a punt can’t be used to kick a field goal as the ball doesn’t touch the ground. Could the punter tap the ball on the ground, then make his kick? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-kick-off-reciever-punts-the-ball-back/433020/28 "2008-01-12T18:31:37Z")
[QUOTE=ZenBeam] Could the punter tap the ball on the ground, then make his kick? [/QUOTE] No – only either (a) a kick from placement, or (b) a drop-kick are legal. ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-kick-off-reciever-punts-the-ball-back/433020/29 "2008-01-12T22:41:21Z")
[QUOTE=ZenBeam] Could the punter tap the ball on the ground, then make his kick? [/QUOTE] The rules say that a field goal or kick for extra point my be scored only from a legal scrimmage kick by place-kick or drop-kick. Place-kick is defined elsewhere in the rules as “a kick by a player of the team in possession while the ball is controlled on the ground by a teammate.”\* Drop-kick is defined elsewhere in the rules as “kick by a player who drops the ball and kicks it as it touches the ground.”\* Tapping the ball on the ground, then punting it, is just a punt. \*NCAA wording. My NFL rulebook is at work, but the wording is substantially similar. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-kick-off-reciever-punts-the-ball-back/433020/30 "2008-01-12T23:06:59Z")
[QUOTE=hoss] IIRC, I believe I saw Randall Cunningham (Eagles) punt the pigskin on 3rd and long from inside their own 5 yard line, against the Cowboys, for 80 ? yards. [/QUOTE] ISTR that Cunningham did so in a playoff game, and that it set the record for longest punt, bouncing for 20 or more yards, and was downed inside the 10. ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2008, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-kick-off-reciever-punts-the-ball-back/433020/31 "2008-01-13T07:28:02Z")
Appears the longest punt ever was by Steve O’Neal in 1969: [http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/long491.html](http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/long491.html) The link posted by **Intelligently Designed** shows Cunningham’s longest punt was 91 yards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-kick-off-reciever-punts-the-ball-back/433020.md?page=1)