denverdan Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 one-point safety? never heard of that one before. nothing about the bs keyshawn call. http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/csac-bt-041209jerrymarkbreitsanswers,1,6719485.story?coll=cs-bears-headlines reader q&a Jerry Markbreit's answers Have a question about the rules of football? Our expert, former NFL referee Jerry Markbreit, will have the answer. December 9, 2004, 11:37 AM CST Would you please explain to me what exactly is the difference between offsides, encroachment and a neutral zone infraction? I don't think they are interchangeable terms, but the referee uses the same signal for all three calls. --Jeff Jhee, Chicago A player is offside when any part of his body is beyond his line of scrimmage or free kick line when the ball is put in play. Encroachment is when a defensive player enters the neutral zone with any part of his body and makes contact with an opponent prior to the ball being snapped. This play is killed immediately. A neutral zone infraction occurs whenever a defender enters the neutral zone, causing the offensive player in close proximity to react immediately (move). This play is shut down immediately, and no snap is allowed to occur. All three of these fouls carry a five-yard penalty and a replay of the down. In the Packers-Texans game, Donald Drive caught a pass and was pushed out of bounds by the defensive back. The official moved his arm to indicate that the clock should keep running. Fortunately for the Packers, they had a time out remaining and were able to get the field goal team on the field to kick the winning field goal. Why wouldn't the clock have stopped when Driver went out of bounds on his feet? --Bill Wall, Holland, Mich. In the play that you describe, the receiver of the pass was pushed backwards, out of bounds. This establishes forward progress on the play and by rule the clock continues to run whenever forward progress occurs in the field of play. Many times during NFL games, you will see what looks like an out of bounds play, where the clock continues to run. If you watch the sideline officials closely, you will know what the status of the clock is by their arm signals. An over the head kill-the-clock sign indicates the player is out of bounds. The winding sign indicates progress had been established. In the Texas-Texas A&M football game, a one-point safety was awarded to Texas on a botched extra point attempt that resulted in a safety after a change of possession and a fumble in the end zone. Is this a new rule? Also, does the NFL have a one-point safety rule or is a safety on an extra point conversion worth two points? --Adam King, Chicago Under NCAA rules, the ball is not dead when a try-for-point is unsuccessful if the defensive team attempts to score. However, if the defense does something that causes the ball to be dead in their own end zone, such as the play that you describe, then a one-point safety will be awarded to the original offensive team. Under NFL rules, an unsuccessful try-for-point is dead if kicked, but while attempting a two-point try, it is possible for a safety to be ruled if the defensive team forces the ball back into their own end zone and they recover. One point would be awarded, instead of the two points that are normally awarded for safeties. Can a team opting to punt after a safety recover the ball as they would an onside kick? It seems that it would be much easier to create a jump ball scenario by way of a punt compared to trying to recover an onside kick squibbed off the tee. --Bob Black, Minneapolis, Minn. A free kick after safety, which can be punted, is considered a regular free kick that can be recovered by the kicking team after it has traveled 10 yards. It is seldom attempted because the kickoff line is the kicking team's 20-yard line and if the onside attempt via punt is unsuccessful, the receiving team would put the ball in play somewhere around their opponents' 30-yard line. In my 23 years in the National Football League, I saw one of these plays attempted by the Miami Dolphins, and they successfully recovered the kick. In the Minnesota-Chicago game, the Bears had 3rd-and-4 on their own 25-yard line. Thomas Jones ran 14 yards for an apparent first down. However, David Terrell was called for illegal use of the hands near the spot where Jones went out of bounds. Instead of pushing the Bears back to their 15-yard line and making it 3rd-and-14, the officials marked off the penalty from the spot of the infraction and the Bears had the ball 3rd-and-inches. How could this be since the infraction took place during the run? In addition, Minnesota was given the option of making it 3rd-and-inches for the Bears or giving them a 1st-and-10. Is this possible? --Butch Brzeski, Chicago The penalty enforcement spot for running plays under NFL rules is at one of these three spots: the spot of the foul if it is behind the place where the run ends and beyond the line of scrimmage; the end of the run if the spot of the foul is beyond the place where the run ends; the previous line of scrimmage if the foul occurs behind the line of scrimmage. In the Bears game, the play was handled correctly. If you remember, the officials measured to see if the play had resulted in a first down. It did not, and it would have been fourth down and less than a yard to go for a first down. Minnesota accepted the penalty, moving the ball back 10 yards from the spot of the foul; thus, replaying the down, making it third down and inches. What were the problems with the NFL's "in the grasp" rule that caused it to be repealed? --Bill Vollmer, Steger, Ill. The old "in the grasp" rule required the referee to blow the ball dead whenever a defensive player had a solid hold on the quarterback, even if he did not take him to the ground. The position of the referee made it impossible to see the football and the action by the defensive player in may cases. A great number of "in the grasp" calls were made while the ball was actually loose or being fumbled by the quarterback. The whistle killed the play and if the defense recovered, they could not keep the ball because of the whistle. This rule put the quarterbacks and the referees at a great disadvantage. The rule was put into the game to give added protection to quarterbacks, but it just didn't work out. Under present rules, "in the grasp" is called when a defensive player has hold of the quarterback with another defensive player bearing down, ready to hit the defenseless quarterback. In a previous column, you said, "Free kicks and kickoffs after a safety are both free balls after they travel 10 yards." In another column, you said that it is legal to kick from BEHIND the 35-yard line. If a team kicks from the 35, necessitating the receiving team to line up at the 45, but they kick the ball from the 25 instead, does it become a free ball at the 35? --Kyle Gordon, New York A free kick may be made from any point on or behind the offensive team's free-kick line, which, under ordinary circumstances in the NFL, is the 30-yard line. The defensive team's restraining line remains 10 yards from the original free-kick line, which is the 30-yard line. If a team attempts an onside kick from their 27-yard line because of inclement weather, the ball would have to travel 13 yards before they could legally recover. Copyright © 2004, ChicagoSports.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzSkinsFan63 Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 Originally posted by denverdan http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/csac-bt-041209jerrymarkbreitsanswers,1,6719485.story?coll=cs-bears-headlines reader q&a Jerry Markbreit's answers Have a question about the rules of football? Our expert, former NFL referee Jerry Markbreit, will have the answer. December 9, 2004, 11:37 AM CST In the Packers-Texans game, Donald Drive caught a pass and was pushed out of bounds by the defensive back. The official moved his arm to indicate that the clock should keep running. Fortunately for the Packers, they had a time out remaining and were able to get the field goal team on the field to kick the winning field goal. Why wouldn't the clock have stopped when Driver went out of bounds on his feet? --Bill Wall, Holland, Mich. In the play that you describe, the receiver of the pass was pushed backwards, out of bounds. This establishes forward progress on the play and by rule the clock continues to run whenever forward progress occurs in the field of play. Many times during NFL games, you will see what looks like an out of bounds play, where the clock continues to run. If you watch the sideline officials closely, you will know what the status of the clock is by their arm signals. An over the head kill-the-clock sign indicates the player is out of bounds. The winding sign indicates progress had been established. I knew this but I'm not sure when this rule actaully started..I think it's fairly recent though. it's just another rule designed to take away from the game and allow time for more commercials.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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