Ineligibile Downfield - Punt
Posted: 10/25/2016
Q: Team K is in a scrimmage kick formation with number 70 lined up in the backfield. At the snap K17 fakes the punt and K70 runs 20 yards downfield. Do we have an ineligible down field? Or is this legal due to the scrimmage kick formation?
A: Assuming a pass that crossed the neutral zone was thrown while 70 was downfield, we’d have ineligible downfield. If that 70 was first to touch a pass, we’d have multiple foul – ineligible downfield (five yards previous spot) and illegal touching (five yards previous spot loss of down and a likely outburst by K’s coach).
The numbering exception only applies to the interior linemen. Also the ruling would be the same even if K weren’t in scrimmage kick formation.
