Football - onside kick

[DCCougar]

I'm American, so I know the rules of American football, more or less. Now, about the onside kick -- On a kickoff, if the ball goes 10 yards or more and your team can run down and jump on it, you keep possession!

But nowadays, I see kickoffs go into the receiving team's end zone, and the receiving team just leaves the ball there and walks off the field! Why can't the kicking team run down, jump on the ball and claim a touchdown? Obviously the ball has gone more than 10 yards. A touchback is when one downs the ball deliberately behind one's own goal line or that is kicked through one's end zone. But kickoff receivers don't bother to down the ball in the end zone. They never touch it. This contradictory rule bugs me!

[J Patrick]

Originally Posted by DCCougar

I'm American, so I know the rules of American football, more or less. Now, about the onside kick -- On a kickoff, if the ball goes 10 yards or more and your team can run down and jump on it, you keep possession!

But nowadays, I see kickoffs go into the receiving team's end zone, and the receiving team just leaves the ball there and walks off the field! Why can't the kicking team run down, jump on the ball and claim a touchdown? Obviously the ball has gone more than 10 yards. A touchback is when one downs the ball deliberately behind one's own goal line or that is kicked through one's end zone. But kickoff receivers don't bother to down the ball in the end zone. They never touch it. This contradictory rule bugs me!

….it’s called a touchback when the team on offense kicks the ball into their end zone before any player touches it…..it’ penalizes the team that isn’t keeping the ball in play….and rewards the receiving team….it works into the strategy of the game….and saves wear and tear on the players…

[robj144]

I think it might have to do with the kicking formation too.

There's a lot of rules in football which are strange. For instance, a false start can be quite subjective. If a center typically pulls his head up before the hike, and he pulls his head up, it's usually not called. But, if he normally doesn't do it and then does it, it's a false start. It's weird.

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by DCCougar

I'm American, so I know the rules of American football, more or less. Now, about the onside kick -- On a kickoff, if the ball goes 10 yards or more and your team can run down and jump on it, you keep possession!

But nowadays, I see kickoffs go into the receiving team's end zone, and the receiving team just leaves the ball there and walks off the field! Why can't the kicking team run down, jump on the ball and claim a touchdown? Obviously the ball has gone more than 10 yards. A touchback is when one downs the ball deliberately behind one's own goal line or that is kicked through one's end zone. But kickoff receivers don't bother to down the ball in the end zone. They never touch it. This contradictory rule bugs me!

I'm sure you know it's part of a host of new safety rules. Basically if the ball is going into the end zone, the receiving team doesn't have to block and it probably reduces a fair number of blocking collisions. Having to "down" the ball or just walking away it seems all the same to me. There were proposals even to eliminate kickoffs as that's where a large number of the biggest collisions happened, and this was a compromise, which I think is good.

From the NFL rulebook:

• The kickoff team must have five players on each side of the ball and cannot line up more than one-yard from the restraining line. For example, the kicking team will line up at the 34-yard line for a kickoff from the 35-yard line.
• At least two players must be lined up outside the yard-line number and two players between the inbounds lines (hash marks) and the yard-line number.
• At least eight players of the receiving team must be lined up in the 15-yard “setup zone” prior to kickoff; only three receiving-team players can remain outside of the setup zone.
• No wedge blocks are permitted. A wedge block is defined as “two or more players intentionally aligning shoulder-to-shoulder within two yards of each other, and who move forward together in an attempt to block for the runner.”
• Double-team blocks can only be performed by members of the receiving team who were originally lined up in the set-up zone at the time of the kick.
• Until the ball is touched or hits the ground, no player on either the receiving or kicking team may block within the 15-yard area from the kicking team’s restraining line. On an onside kick, the kicking team may not block in the first 10 yards.
• The ball is dead if it is not touched by the receiving team and touches the ground in the end zone (touchback).

It's pretty clear when there's an onside kick and when there's a kickoff, and the rules are easily adjusted.

[12barBill]

Touchback:

https://thestadiumreviews.com/blogs/...k-in-football/

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by DCCougar

A touchback is when one downs the ball deliberately behind one's own goal line or that is kicked through one's end zone.

Used to be....
The rule changed a few years ago, so that a touchback now also includes just letting the ball run into the end zone, as long as the ball is untouched by the receiving team.
So, what you are describing, i.e. the kicking team scoring a touchdown by just pouncing on a ball in the end zone that hadn't been touched, was possible a few years ago, but no longer.

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by J Patrick

….it’s called a touchback when the team on offense kicks the ball into their end zone before any player touches it…..it’ penalizes the team that isn’t keeping the ball in play….and rewards the receiving team….it works into the strategy of the game….and saves wear and tear on the players…

I remember a few years ago when they increased the touchback yardage from 20 to 25 yards in order to discourage kickoff returns. Kickoff/punts are the most dangerous plays in football. It mimics medieval war zones when everyone meets at an open field and charge toward each other at full speed. That’s why special team rules keep getting more and more strict.

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by AndreF

Used to be....
The rule changed a few years ago...

Ah right. That explains it. And yeah, full speed collisions can be dangerous! Makes sense. Thanks, guys.

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by DCCougar

Ah right. That explains it. And yeah, full speed collisions can be dangerous! Makes sense. Thanks, guys.

Yes, rule change a few years ago for safety, but there is the pooch kick which is a shorter kick, not 10 yards short, but trying to keep it out of the endzone so the kicking team does have a chance to recover the ball. It is a live ball when in the field of play, but no longer when in the end zone.

[Cypress Knee]

Ravens vs Steelers - there were kickoffs that were deliberately high and slightly short of the goaline with the goal of forcing a runback that did not get back to the twenty-five yard line. Both kickers executed the kick-off, the defenders did not always tackle per plan. It was much more interesting than watching the ball sail into the end-zone. Best kick of the night was that coffin corner kick that went out at the half-yard line.