Would this football trick play be legal?

Oops, you’re right. Didn’t know that. I suspect it doesn’t get tried very often, as it’d be hard for the “onsides” back to get downfield in time to recover the kick, but it’s possible.

It’d have to be 3rd down in the CFL, since Canadian rules only give you 3 downs, but, yes, it could work in the CFL.

The OP referred to a “dropkick”, thinking that a dropkick would be treated differently than a punt in the rules, but that’s not the case.

I remember Garo Yepremian, after his fiasco in Super Bowl VII when he recovered his own blocked field goal but ended up fumbling it to the Redskins, who scored a TD, when he got blocked again-he just kicked the spinning ball out of bounds to prevent any sort of runback.

This is true even in American football (at least the NFL). In a 2003 game, the Giants were able to get a first down against the Vikings despite having a punt blocked. The Vikings were leading by a point in the 4th quarter at the time and the block (had the Vikings recovered) would have given them first and goal. The Giants ended up winning the game.

I seem to recall a Steelers(?) game where a team had a late-game, 3rd down field goal try blocked. It was ruled to have not passed the line of scrimmage, so they tried again.

That’s exactly why teams will occasionally try a field goal on 3rd down, late in a game, if the field goal would tie or win the game. In case of a botched snap or hold (or, even more rarely, a block recovered by the offense), they can get another try.

LOL, this post is just really funny to me (especially in a football thread!):wink:

Indeed. With the exception of specific “kicking plays” (kickoffs, punts, field goals, etc.), kicking the football is against the rules. Go figure. :smiley:

I think that’s an NCAA board, but it matches what I was told by a veteran high school official during one of our drives to a game. I can’t find my rule book at the moment to check, and since I should be studying for exams, I can’t look too hard.

Fairly often, the kicking team on a FG will have a player line up wide and slightly behind the kicker. I think this is at least partly done to force the defense to cover with this player, which leaves them with fewer players to block the kick.

There are a couple other differences in Canadian rules which are to the advantage of a kicking team trying an onside kick. First, there’s no fair catch rule. CFL kickers just chip the onside kick, while NFL kickers have to bounce it into the turf. Second, if the kick ends up out of bounds, possession goes to the team who last touched it. Players can just tip the ball out of bounds, rather than having to gain possession of it.

My copy of the Official NFL rules is a couple of years old (2005 edition), but I don’t believe this rule has been changed.

In looking for the answer on the possible pass interference on a punt formation in which the punter then throws a high ball attempting to draw a PI I came across this:

Section 2 covers Pass Interference (both offensive and defensive)

After describing what the foul is, there are several notes at the end of the section prior to the Penalties section.

Further, the rule on a kick from scrimmage specify who may or may not advance downfield prior to the kick being made.

There is an exception directly after that rule which allows a receiver who is in motion and clearly has become the outside receiver to proceed downfield (but it’s pretty long and I don’t want to type it all).
Now, for the OPs question. I think that is covered here.

A try-kick is limited per the definition section

So the ball is dead if the kicking team recover, unless they recover it behind the line of scrimmage (unless that recovery is on a PAT attempt).
Let me know if you need further clarification from the rule book or have other questions.

Actually, they don’t have to bounce it into the turf, though many do.

On an onsides kick, the ball needs to hit the ground or the receiving team could call for a fair catch. Once the ball hits the ground, the kicking team can then interfere with the receiving team players for recovery purposes.

This is why NFL kickers try to bounce it, if you don’t you can essentially give the ball to the receiving team without a chance to recover.