So in the Den/Oak game, Oakland blocked Denvers punt and it was picked up by Denver in front of the first down line. Upon recovery it was still Oakland's ball. My Question is Why? Under the rules for punting once the ball is touched by the receiving team its a free ball. Why isn't this the case in this situation?
My theory is that it has to do with where Oakland touched the ball. Because they touched the ball behind the LOS and it continued across the LOS, it assumes the condition of a normal punt. Had Oakland touched the ball again, after it crossed the LOS, and Denver then recovered the ball, it would've been Denver's ball. Along the same line - I think had the Oakland block not caused the ball to go across the LOS... and a Denver player picked it up and ran with it - he could've advanced it for a 1st down. Honestly... I don't know anything for sure and have found the NFL rulebook site not very useful for answering some of these types of questions. The announcers are also usually pretty clueless and just make stuff up.
But if the punt was blocked and the ball was behind the LOS a player could pick it up and run for a first?
Is it LOS or is it a matter of if the ball is in its ascent vs. descent such as basketball and goaltending?
Basically, the defense is allowed a "free touch" when they block a kick, meaning the offense can't gain possession based on that touch of the ball. The best way to understand the rules of a blocked kick is to look at it in seperate cases to simplify what is going on and the rules behind it. Case 1: Kick is blocked, but crosses the line of scrimmage before being touched by another player. Treat as unblocked punt. Case 2: Kick is blocked, doesn't cross the LOS, recovered by the offense, not advanced beyond the first down marker. Advance to next down, if 4th down, then turnover on downs. Case 3: Kick is blocked, doesn't cross the LOS, recovered by the offense, advanced beyond the first down marker. 1st down, offense retains possession. Case 4: Kick is blocked, doesn't cross the LOS, recovered by the defense. Defense retains possession. Case 5: Kick is blocked, doesn't cross the LOS, recovered by the defense with clear possession, then fumbled and offense recovers. 1st down, offense retains possession, no matter if they advanced it to the first down marker or not. This gets even crazier as the ball goes out of bounds off the block or a fumble.
