Hello, this weekend I think I made a mistake on the following action, during a scrimmage down the quarterback in position for a long snap receives the ball and throw it to his back. The ball carrier under pressure make a punt behind the line of scrimage. I had call it for an illegal kick but the rules saids "no player in position to receives a hand-to-hand snap from between the snapper's legs" In this case is two backward pass and a kick and now and I think the kick was legal. Could you tell me whether I was right or not.
Unfortunately, yes, this was an error.
The rule that you reference only defines a "scrimmage kick formation," and that has to do with player
numbering for Team A. It does not mean that a scrimmage kick may only be made if they snap from a scrimmage kick formation. A scrimmage kick formation simply permits Team A to deviate from the required numbering, i.e., minimum of 5 linemen numbered 50-79 at the snap. It has nothing to do with a kick being permitted or prohibited.
Before a change of team possession, Team A can make a scrimmage kick (punt or field goal attempt) any time one of their players is in possession and he makes the kick while not beyond the neutral zone. It does not matter what formation they were in at the snap, and it does not matter if they throw one or more forward or backward passes before the kick. And, it does not matter if they kick the ball legally more than once. Obviously, once they make a kick that crosses the NZ, then they will not be able to kick the ball again legally, because the ball would become dead the moment they gain player possession.
