Just curious, because this made no sense to me. In tonight's Broncos/Texans game, why wasn't roughing the kicker called against Denver in the late 3rd/early 4th quarter?
The explanation I heard from the announcers was, it wasn't roughing because the ball had already been kicked. I've never heard of this rule before. So as long as the ball leaves the kickers leg, you can just plow into him however hard you want to, even if his leg is still extended in the air from the kick? That doesn't sound right.
I did a quick search for roughing/running into the kicker, and found this:
http://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/nfl-video-rulebook/roughing-or-running-into-the-kicker/
It seems as though there should have been a 15 yd foul/roughing the kicker, since the defensive player "contact[ed] the plant leg of the kicker while his kicking leg is still in the air".
Now maybe you could argue they hit his raised leg, not the plant leg, but he was going full force into Lechler, almost like a tackle.
The only other thing I can guess is, there was some contact between another Texans player and Denver as he ran into Lecher, so maybe they felt he was being blocked/pushed into Lechler?
I'm really just curious more than anything, not that it would have really impacted the outcome of the game. Just trying to make sense of all these rules and special cases and everything else...
The explanation I heard from the announcers was, it wasn't roughing because the ball had already been kicked. I've never heard of this rule before. So as long as the ball leaves the kickers leg, you can just plow into him however hard you want to, even if his leg is still extended in the air from the kick? That doesn't sound right.
I did a quick search for roughing/running into the kicker, and found this:
http://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/nfl-video-rulebook/roughing-or-running-into-the-kicker/
It seems as though there should have been a 15 yd foul/roughing the kicker, since the defensive player "contact[ed] the plant leg of the kicker while his kicking leg is still in the air".
Now maybe you could argue they hit his raised leg, not the plant leg, but he was going full force into Lechler, almost like a tackle.
The only other thing I can guess is, there was some contact between another Texans player and Denver as he ran into Lecher, so maybe they felt he was being blocked/pushed into Lechler?
I'm really just curious more than anything, not that it would have really impacted the outcome of the game. Just trying to make sense of all these rules and special cases and everything else...