Kickoff after a safety

[Lucas718]

American rules, using 1.0.122 patch.

Team A sacks Team B in the endzone for a safety.
Team B kicks off from the 20 yard line.
The kick goes out of bounds.
Team A gets the ball at their own 40 yard line.

Team A should have gotten the ball at the 50 yard line. The rule for kicks that go out of bounds is the ball is placed 30 yards from the spot of the kick. On a normal kickoff from the 30 yard line, Team A would have gotten the ball at the 40, but since Team B kicked off from the 20 (because of the safety) Team A should get the ball at the 50.

[Magnum357]

I'm not aware of this rule. Is this a new NFL rule implemented recently, or is this a pretty common rule in American Football? I thought it was always spotted on the 40 yard line regardless of where the ball is kicked.

[DirkGildun]

No, this NFL rule has been in place for a number of years.

[simmer]

I had this happen. Team A kicked the ball instead of punting it.

[Marauders]

A team should be doing a free kick after a safety.

From Football Wikipedia:

Free kicks

In American football, safeties are followed by a free kick — by the team that 'allowed' the safety — from its own 20-yard line. That team can choose to punt, dropkick or placekick the ball to the other team. Normally, the team chooses to punt; the dropkick is virtually unheard of in practical play. Other rules are the same as on a kickoff. In Canadian football, the team that scored the safety can elect either to take the ball at its own 35-yard line or to make the other team kick off from its own 35-yard line.

[Breeze]

That's a playbook issue. Someone needs to make a free kick play (a punt play that goes in the kickoff section).

[Marauders]

That's a playbook issue. Someone needs to make a free kick play (a punt play that goes in the kickoff section).

That would be a problem, because the punter would not hold the ball in his hand like with a free kick, and there isn't a way to move a player over to snap the ball.

[Breeze]

Maybe the punter can snap it to himself?

[Magnum357]

Ya, I'm not sure you can design a play to "punt" the ball instead of Kickoff. I don't even think Football Pro had that capability in its Play Design System.

Interesting read from Wikipedia, I didn't know that you could either Punt, Dropkick, or Placekick after a Safty. I wonder though, if you could kick it far enough, would a Dropkick or a Placekick that goes through the uprights be worth 3 points?

[Breeze]

No it wouldn't. John Kasay used to be able to do that when he was with Seattle - that was one of the reasons they moved the kickoff back to the 30.