I had this rare play for the first time ever last night:
4th and 8 from K2. Punter is lined up in the back of his endzone.
Punt is shanked, goes straight up in the air, takes what seems an eternity to come down, only 5 yards forward (ball never leaves the endzone). Ball comes down 3 yards deep in the endzone, caught by R55 in his scoring endzone. Touchdown.
Now, I was thinking... WHAT IF.... R55 signaled fair catch before he caught it.
Would there be a foul here or not?
1. Fair catches can only be caught from the NZ to the other EZ. Is it a penalty to do it behind the NZ or it just kills the play?
2. If he's drilled after catching it, it's a late hit regardless of a fair catch, because the ball is dead anyways because of the touchdown.
Just thinking what ifs ... if this bizarre play ever happened again.