An official declares a dead ball and the down ended when a
runner is contacted by a defensive player and the runner touches the ground with any part of his body, except his hands or feet. The ball is dead immediately. This happens often at very high speed and it is a judgment call on the part of the officials.
A touchdown is scored when the football breaks the plane of the endzone. Can a touchdown be scored when the receiver catches the pass, has two feet down in the endzone, yet the ball does not break the plane because it’s angled out of bounds away from the endzone? — Craig Henkhaus, Atkinson, Ill.
To answer your questions, No. It is a touchdown when a runner advances from the field of play and the ball touches the opponent’s goal line or goal-line plane. In your play, even though the receiver had both feet down in the end zone, the ball had yet to break the plane of the goal line. Consequently, there is no touchdown.
When do penalties switch from five-, 10- and 15-yard varieties to half the distance from the goal line? If the offense was already on their goal line, would penalties have no real effect on their distance to first down? –Hank Jones, Joliet
If a distance penalty, enforced from a specific spot between the
goal lines would place the ball more than half the distance to the offender’s goal line, the penalty is half the distance from that spot to the goal line. This general rule supercedes any other general or specific rule with regard to enforcement of penalties. An exception would be intentional grounding, which is penalized at the spot of the foul if that spot is more than 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
Fo example: If the ball was snapped from a team’s own 15-yard line, and the quarterback illegally grounded the ball at his 2-yard line, the enforcement of the penalty would put the ball at the 2 instead of half the distance to the goal.
Why can an offensive player stiff-arm a defender in the facemask, but a defender cannot touch the facemask of a player on offense? Aren’t the dangers the same? — Russell Petersen, Chicago
Only a runner may ward off an opponent with his hands or arms, but no other offensive player may use them to obstruct an opponent. The runner may push an opponent in the face mask while warding him off, as long as he does not grasp the mask. This would result in a personal foul and a 15-yard penalty against the runner.
Defensive players are restricted from incidental grabbing or intentional grabbing of the face mask. The runner is given this extra latitude because it would not be possible to ward off a
potential tackler if his face mask was a restricted area.
If a pass rusher takes a swipe at the football as the quarterback is in the act of throwing and completely misses the football but hits the quarterback in the face hard enough to where the head snaps backward, is this considered roughing the passer? – Dan, Roseville, Calif.
In the NFL, referees must be particularly alert to fouls in which
defenders use the helmet or the face mask to hit the passer, or use hands, arms or other parts of the body to hit the passer in the head, neck or face area. Even though what you describe might truly be accidental, it is still a 15-yard penalty for roughing the passer.
Is there still a rule on the NFL books that allows a free field-goal attempt after fair-catching a kickoff? Does this apply only to placekicks and does this rule exist at the college level? — Fred Davis, Red Oak, Iowa
The NFL rule allows a free kick field goal attempt after any successfully made fair catch. NCAA rules do not allow this. The rule states that on a field goal attempt following a fair catch, all general rules apply as for a field goal attempt from scrimmage. The clock starts when the ball is kicked. The fair catch kick line for the kicking team is the yard line through the most forward point from which the ball is kicked. The fair catch line for the receiving team is the yard line 10 yards in advance of the kicking team’s fair catch kick line. There is no snap and
no defensive rush and if the ball is kicked through the goal posts, three points are scored for the kicking team.
Is there a penalty for an injury if a team is out of timeouts at the end of a game? — Michael Arnold, Bay City, Mich.
Injury timeouts prior to the last two minutes of either half when
a team has used all of their time outs will be awarded without penalty and the injured player must be removed from the game. Injuries inside of two minutes of either half, with all three time outs being used, will be granted with no penalty for the “fourth” time out. Any injury time outs after the “fourth” will incur a five-yard delay-of-game penalty.
I noticed the other day Ron Blum was now a head linesman. In years past he was the referee Is this typical, guys moving positions season to season? –Jim Bruse, Amherst, Mass.
Ron Blum has gone back to his old position of line judge. It is not uncommon for officials to change positions during their careers. It is a personal choice.
Is that really you in the Miller Lite referee commercials? –Pete, Chicago
Absolutely, positively–NO. I wish that I looked that young!
