question: can you kick an onside kick after a safety?

[trapezeus]

Just curious, i know after a safety you can elect to kick or punt. Most elect to Punt. I was wondering if you went with kick, are you allowed to onside kick. Anyone know?

[The King]

No because technically its not a kick. Its a punt.

[Forward_Lateral]

I saw a team kick off on a safety with a holder yesterday, which I didn't think was legal.

[Historian]

Yes, its a free kick.

The ball can sit on a tee or be punted.

[Forward_Lateral]

I'm not sure you can tee it up, Historian. I think someone has to hold it.

[DraftBoy]

If you choose to punt it, you can try a pooch punt and try and beat the return team to the ball. Essentiallysome teams have tried this on traditional onside kick where they float the ball over the hands team and try and race to beat them to the ball. As soon as the ball is kicked and goes beyond the 10 yd mark its completely live to whoever recovers it.

[Mr. Pink]

Cleveland did an onside kick after a safety a few years back vs Dallas. It was where KII suffered his first leg injury of his career.

I remember this vividly because plenty of Browns fans were pissed off at Butch Davis for putting the first round draft pick out there in that situation.

[Pinkerton Security]

ya it wouldnt make sense that if teams could tee it up, they wouldnt, because kickoffs definitely travel farther than punts.

[ajsdx]

ya it wouldnt make sense that if teams could tee it up, they wouldnt, because kickoffs definitely travel farther than punts.

I agree. If you had the option of teeing it up, why wouldn't you?

[Ingtar33]

it's a free kick,

which means you can have a holder, a drop kick or punt it; the kicking tee is forbidden in a free kick.

most teams punt the ball because punts have far more hang time then kicks, and typically travel about as far as a kickoff, in addition, HELD kicks don't travel as far as tee'ed kicks, look at the distance difference between a field goal and a kickoff; as a result, a PUNT is the optimal kick on a freekick

A normal 50 yard punt, will travel 65 through the air (the punter punts from roughly 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage), since the free kick happens, at the 20 yard line, that puts the ball at about the 15 yard line, where as a kicker who has had the ball held, will be fortunate to break 60 yards, and will have no where near the hang time the punter will manage.

free kicks are recoverable by the kicking team in the same way a normal kickoff is.

[LtFinFan66]

I agree. If you had the option of teeing it up, why wouldn't you?Better hang time on punts

[yordad]

it's a free kick,

which means you can have a holder, a drop kick or punt it; the kicking tee is forbidden in a free kick.

most teams punt the ball because punts have far more hang time then kicks, and typically travel about as far as a kickoff, in addition, HELD kicks don't travel as far as tee'ed kicks, look at the distance difference between a field goal and a kickoff; as a result, a PUNT is the optimal kick on a freekick

A normal 50 yard punt, will travel 65 through the air (the punter punts from roughly 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage), since the free kick happens, at the 20 yard line, that puts the ball at about the 15 yard line, where as a kicker who has had the ball held, will be fortunate to break 60 yards, and will have no where near the hang time the punter will manage.

free kicks are recoverable by the kicking team in the same way a normal kickoff is.I'm thinking this guy sounds right.

Thank you for clearing that up, cuz I thought it was a good question.

[HughC]

Another thing to keep in mind when considering an onside kick - whether it be after a safety or after a score or start of a half - is that the recovering team can call a fair catch, just like they can on a punt. This is one of the reasons that on an onside kick the kicker drives the ball in to the ground rather than pop it up in the air over the first line of the defense. Once it hits the ground it's anybody's ball, but if it hasn't touched the ground yet, the receiving team has option of taking the safe route with a fair catch signal. So pooching the ball on a punt fifteen or twenty yards down the field would be difficult to pull off, and if you line up with a holder it is alerting the opponent to a higher probability of an onside kick.

In addition, because you are kicking from deeper in your own territory you run the risk of giving your opponent even better field position should your team not recover. So while you can onside kick after a safety, overall it doesn't seem like a very smart move to make.


Also, here's a link to the rule regarding using a tee.
http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/safety