Easily recognizable to most fans during kicking plays, the attempt to get the ball as deep as possible into to opponent’s territory, pinning them deep and making their uphill climb that much steeper, will often backfire and end up in the end zone, resulting in a touchback. So ubiquitous is this result that there have been loud and sustained cries to do away with the kickoff altogether. But how did it get that way? Given the NFL’s penchant for rule changes, incessant meddling some might call it, surely the touchback would have gone the way of the dodo long ago if it was always like this.
What makes a touchback?
If a kicked ball, either as a result of a punt, kickoff or missed field goal, touches the ground in the opposing team’s end zone, rolls out of the back-end zone or touches the goal post, the play is ruled a touchback and the ball will be spotted at the 25-yard line. Touchbacks will also be called if the receiver waves for a fair catch before catching the ball or takes a knee once the ball is caught, but these two are now anachronisms after rule changes in 2004 and 2011 which have made simply leaving the ball to bounce would achieve the same effect.
SVP of @NFL Officiating Perry Fewell talks through the muffed punt resulting in a touchback from the #MIAvsBUF Week 8 game.
One more way to generate a touchback is to fumble the ball through the end zone. This is less frequently seen, and often confuses viewers when it does come around, but it is a relatively common occurrence. Last season’s AFC Divisional Round playoff game saw the issue bubble up again when the Cleveland Browns fumbled a near-touchdown pass through the end zone, resulting in a touchback in their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
"People big mad." 👀
You may not like the fumble touchback rule but it has a long history in the NFL. pic.twitter.com/lQShgAsv13
Prior to the 2004 and 2011 rule changes, a kickoff was a live ball once it passed ten yards, meaning that the kicking team could recover a ball in the end zone and that would be a touchdown. On a personal side note, my own high school football years saw East Ascension High School lose by seven to St Amant High School as a result of just such a play during my junior year.
A punted ball was something slightly different but the ball was still live until either touched by the kicking team or recovered. If recovered, and not kneeled but rather tackled inside the end zone, the result was a safety, seeing the kicking team awarded two points.
A missed field goal is still a live ball, for now.
Results of these changes
Since the 2011 rule change which saw the kickoff moved up to the 35-yard line from the 30, the resulting touchbacks increased dramatically. Where 16 percent of kickoffs resulted in touchbacks previously, the number jumped to 44 percent the following season. And barring a radical strategy shift, that ratio is not likely to come down any time soon.
The NFL has for years known that the most dangerous play in the game is the kickoff. It accounts for the vast majority of injuries and hospital admissions associated with the game. It is one of the last vestiges, perhaps even the last, of the game’s origins in rugby, where the perhaps chaotic, but free-flowing play is more prized over set pieces. This places the kickoff firmly at odds with the modern NFL. And they have done much over the years to mitigate the injury. Kicking teams may no longer get a running start, the field is shorter to encourage more touchbacks, and the rules surrounding the live ball and just what a touchback is are just the latest in a long line of tinkering by the rules committee. It is likely, perhaps even inevitable, that in the not too distant future, I will need to write another article about touchbacks. Only that one would be announcing their demise as the league does away with kickoffs altogether.
1. Never attempt to run from that deep in the end zone. 2. Just abolish the kickoff, already @NFL. https://t.co/HFbkREAoW8
In American football, a touchback is a ruling which is made and signaled by an official when the ball becomes dead on or behind a team's own goal line
goal line
The goal line is the chalked or painted line dividing the end zone from the field of play in gridiron football. In American football the goal lines run 10 yards (9.1 m) parallel to the end lines, while in Canadian football they run 20 yards (18 m) parallel to the dead lines.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Goal_line_(gridiron_football)
(i.e., in their end zone) and the opposing team gave the ball the momentum, or impetus, to travel over or across the goal line but did not have possession of the ball ...
The league moved touchbacks up from the 20-yard line to the 25 in 2016. Over the last 12 seasons since kickoff tees were moved up to the 35-yard line from the 30, only 53 returns have resulted in touchdowns. There were 20 kickoff return scores in 2010 before the change. “I'm sure it's like a good rule for the NFL.
Here's how this works. If a kicked ball, either as a result of a punt, kickoff or missed field goal, touches the ground in the opposing team's end zone, rolls out of the back-end zone or touches the goal post, the play is ruled a touchback and the ball is subsequently spotted on the 25-yard-line.
In an attempt to reduce the frequency of kick returns—and by extension cut down on injuries—the NFL decided in the offseason to put the ball on the 25-yard line after a touchback. The rationale, of course, was that the extra five yards might cause returners to gamble less often on kicks that go into the end zone.
There are no points given for a touchback in football. While the touchdown gets six, Field Goal is awarded 3, Safety receives 2, and a Try after the touchdown will result in one point; the touchback will not give any points to the team.
Before the 2012 season, kickoffs were moved from the 30-yard line to the 35. The committee also changed the starting position on touchbacks that year so that the receiving team started its drive on the 25-yard line instead of the 20.
First, the NFL moved the kickoff from the 30-yard line to the 35 in 2011. The NCAA followed suit in 2012 while also moving the touchback on kickoffs from the 20-yard line to the 25. The NFL moved the touchback to the 25-yard line in 2016.
There are no points awarded for a touchback. A touchback can also occur if a player catches a kick in the end zone and chooses not to return the ball. If the receiver refuses to return the catch by running, they need to go on one knee.
Kickoffs have seen the most dramatic results, with touchbacks going from a 41% touchback rate in 2011 to 61% in 2020. Despite the trend in kicker improvement, in 2021, following two consecutive years of record highs, the rate of touchbacks on kickoffs dropped to 57%.
For the return team, taking a touchback can be advantageous because it guarantees that their offense will start the play in decent field position. Often, if they were to try to return a kick or punt that reached their own end zone, they wouldn't be able to gain more yards than if they simply took the touchback.
Touchbacks on punts could mean five extra yards for the receiving team. Under this proposal, the receiving team will get the ball at the 25-yard line if there's a touchback on a punt. Under the current rule, the receiving team gets the ball at the 20.
The NFL has pushed the kickoff return further toward irrelevance with a priority on player safety. League owners voted Tuesday for a one-year trial of an enhanced touchback rule that will give the receiving team the ball at its own 25 with a fair catch of a kickoff anywhere behind that yard line.
Last month, NFL owners voted in a new rule that will make it a touchback on the 25-yard line whenever a returner makes a fair catch on any kickoff inside the 25. The league predicts the rule will reduce the number of kickoff returns from 38 to 31 percent, and reduce concussions by about 15 percent.
Both a 40-second and a 25-second play clock are used. Unless the game is stopped for administrative reasons (e.g., change of possession, penalty, injury, clock error, etc.), the offensive team has 40 seconds to snap the ball after the previous play ends. After administrative stoppages, a 25-second play clock is used.
When was the last 0-0 tie in the NFL? The most recent 0-0 tie took place on November 7, 1943 when the Detroit Lions hosted the New York Giants at Briggs Stadium. With the game taking place in the middle of World War II, many NFL players were overseas after being drafted.
Touchbacks are when one team gets possession from the other team in the end zone during specific circ*mstances such as a turnover, a punt, or a kickoff. Meanwhile, a safety occurs any time that a ball carrier gets downed or tackled in their own endzone after leaving the end zone.
Introduction: My name is Trent Wehner, I am a talented, brainy, zealous, light, funny, gleaming, attractive person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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