Jump to content

Question about the rules of Football


mrfahaji

Recommended Posts

Hello. I have a question about conditions for scoring a Touchdown. Not being from the US, I haven't been brought up on the game and have had to learn it all myself, and sometimes I see things which I can't locate an answer for on the web. So, I turn to the Falcons community to help me!

To score a touchdown, there seem to be a number of conditions required. There are the obvious ones (running & catching in the end zone), but then there are a couple of others, such as:

1. Ball is outside the endzone, but player catches and has his feet (both?) in the end zone.

2. Player is outside the endzone, but gets the ball to cross the plane whilst still in his hands.

But are there other ways?

For example, I'm sure last season, Troy Polamalu scored a TD, and also perhaps one of the Bengals against the Falcons did something similar, where they seemed to be in the air whilst the ball crossed the goalline, before then going out of bounds. I don't recall, in Polamalu's case, the ball being in the endzone whilst Troy's feet were on the ground. Equally, what happens if a Running Back (for example) leaps over someone, crosses the plane with his arm, but doesn't have contact with the ground?

Hope that makes sense... as I said, I understand most of the rules but then there always seem to be one or two nuances which I can't figure out!

Edited by mrfahaji
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello. I have a question about conditions for scoring a Touchdown. Not being from the US, I haven't been brought up on the game and have had to learn it all myself, and sometimes I see things which I can't locate an answer for on the web. So, I turn to the Falcons community to help me!

To score a touchdown, there seem to be a number of conditions required. There are the obvious ones (running & catching in the end zone), but then there are a couple of others, such as:

1. Ball is outside the endzone, but player catches and has his feet (both?) in the end zone.

2. Player is outside the endzone, but gets the ball to cross the plain whilst still in his hands.

But are there other ways?

For example, I'm sure last season, Troy Polamalu scored a TD, and also perhaps one of the Bengals against the Falcons did something similar, where they seemed to be in the air whilst the ball crossed the goalline, before then going out of bounds. I don't recall, in Polamalu's case, the ball being in the endzone whilst Troy's feet were on the ground. Equally, what happens if a Running Back (for example) leaps over someone, crosses the plain with his arm, but doesn't have contact with the ground?

Hope that makes sense... as I said, I understand most of the rules but then there always seem to be one or two nuances which I can't figure out!

to answer your first question... if the receiver is already in the endzone when getting the ball, both feet must touch the ground and he must have control of the ball with his hands.

if you have the ball in control outside the endzone and intends to run it in, as soon as the ball virtually reaches the endzone line, it's a touchdown... doesn't matter if the player ever touches the ground... so in you case of the running back leaping he can cross the line in the air and be pushed back outside without ever touching the ground, and it will still be a touchdown... he can jump and land outside the endzone with his body, but if his arms are stretched out and the ball has crossed the line it's a touchdown... provided the ball crosse the line before he hit the ground outside the endzone...

hope this answers your question :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cheers guys, that makes sense. Quite a specific thing to search for! Are you allowed to carry someone out of the end zone? Just think it could make quite a good defensive strategy - stick close to your man, wait until he leaps to catch the ball, then just hold his legs and carry him out of the end zone before he descends... :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cheers guys, that makes sense. Quite a specific thing to search for! Are you allowed to carry someone out of the end zone? Just think it could make quite a good defensive strategy - stick close to your man, wait until he leaps to catch the ball, then just hold his legs and carry him out of the end zone before he descends... :lol:

Yes, that's known as a force out, and has happened before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are force-outs still legal? I know they were last year so I'm assuming they still are because I haven't heard that that was changed.

If you do a force-out, it isn't a catch anymore. As bad as Chris Houston was, he did take advantage of that every now and then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...