Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

According to the play-by-play, an Atlanta punt was blocked by New Orleans and run in for a TD in the first quarter of last night's game.

Replays show (and the broadcasters mentioned at the time) that the punter's foot never actually made contact with the ball. In fact, Michael Mauti basically knocked the ball out of the punter's hands before the punt.

The NFL's Guide for Statisticians clearly states, "Do not charge a player with a punt unless he actually punts the ball." Nevertheless, the box score on the NFL site records the play as a blocked punt. Shouldn't it be a fumble?

You're right. If it was a kick, then where's the running in to the kicker penalty???
My guess is they WON'T change it because of the whole Gleason angle.

Didn't that happen to Sean Landeta in the 1985 Bears-Giants playoff, where the wind was the culprit for him missing the ball?

BD Sullivan wrote:Didn't that happen to Sean Landeta in the 1985 Bears-Giants playoff, where the wind was the culprit for him missing the ball?

Yes, I thought of that last night and I looked it up. According to the NYT account, Landeta "barely ticked" the ball. This is from Landeta's own account: ''I didn't see the ball come off the foot and go up. I didn't feel any explosion. So I knew I didn't get it. Unfortunately, I got a little of it. If I missed it completely, maybe it would have fallen in front of me and maybe I could have fallen on it on the 2- or 3-yard line. And maybe we could have held them to 3 points."

When it is a jar! Oh, wait, that's a door . . .

Punt and Blocked Punt(s)

This sounds like a simple fumble.

That distinction affects the statistics, but it could also impact the end of the play. If a member of the punt team picks up a blocked punt and runs for enough yardage for a first down, the punting team keeps the ball. F the play is ruled to determined to be a fumble by the punter, the Holy Roller rule comes into effect; the fumbled ball is dead right there.

Depends on what your definition of "is" is ...

Someone here will definately know this, it's not a blocked punt if it goes past the line of scrimmage, but what if a player contacts it and it goes right to the line of scrimmage, is that a block? This was the source of a discrepancy in Albert Lewis' 4 punt block season, the team gave him 4 but one of them went like 2 yards so wouldn't be an "official" block.