Scoring

[rperricone]

I believe he should get 6 pts for this, it did help win the game for the Rams. It is the same as a fumble recovery, but I see that he did not get credit for the points. NFL gamebook has him with a fumble recovery, but it shows as an own team fumble recovery. I dont believe that should be the case. It is the same as kicking off and recovering the fumble. In that case a player gets 6 pts. Please let me know the ruling on this. It could be the difference in a very close game in LG 11.

[jwsmen]

Rich,

While I am not the official rule on this I believe it will not be included in the scoring becaue the gamebook did score it as a "own recovery". While your point is valid the fact is the ball never changed posession. That is what constitutes a fumble recovery vs. recovering your own teams lost fumble.


Had the Texans actually gained control of the ball then fumbled, Holt would have gotten credit for a fumble recovery. As I watched this portion of the Texans/Rams affair, I can tell you that the Texans never possessed the ball on the kickoff so in effect it was an "own recovery".

[rperricone]

Thanks Jason



I assume, the same goes when a player muffs a punt and the punting team recovers, or when a kickoff is muffed or never touched bythe receiving team? I think gamebook needs to reassess their scoring methods.

[Natalie Portman]

rperricone wrote: I assume, the same goes when a player muffs a punt and the punting team recovers, or when a kickoff is muffed or never touched bythe receiving team? I think gamebook needs to reassess their scoring methods.





When a returner MUFFS a punt, and a player on the punting team recovers the ball, it is absolutely scored and recorded as an Opponents' Fumble Recovered. A muff and a fumble are scored the same in every way. The only difference in functionality is that the player attempting to receive the ball makes contact with it, but never possesses it. The only difference in the rules is that a muff cannot be advanced after it is recovered while a fumble obviously can be.



When a kickoff is untouched by the receiving team, and recovered by a member of the kicking team, there is no fumble and no muff involved in the play. It does not qualify as a turnover because the kicking team is considered to have possession at the time of the kick; the receiving team never has possession on such a play. It is simply a recovery of a free kick and is not a part of EFS scoring. Every kickoff is actually a free kick, so whether the ball is recovered 60 yards downfield, or after traveling 11 yards on an on-side kick, there is no statistical difference.


When a kickoff is muffed by the receiving team, and then recovered by the kicking team (like on an on-side kick that bounces around and touches players from both teams before being recovered by the kickers), there is no turnover on the play. The kicking team had possession at the time of the kick. After they kick the ball, neither team has possession. When the team that kicked off ultimately recovers, they are inpossession once again, but the receiving team never had any possession to lose.




The NFL Gamebooks currently handle all of these scenarios in the appropriate and accurate manner.

[rperricone]

More of a reason for giving points to players who recover their own team's fumbles. It is probably as important as recovering an opponents fumble. I propose 3 pts for recovering own teams fumbles and a -3 for fumbling but not losing to other team.

[Natalie Portman]

rperricone wrote: More of a reason for giving points to players who recover their own team's fumbles. It is probably as important as recovering an opponents fumble. I propose 3 pts for recovering own teams fumbles and a -3 for fumbling but not losing to other team.

Iwould beall for implementinghalf of that proposal.

Awarding 2 or 3 points for a player credited withOwn Team's Fumble Recovered would be a good thing. We know that it's right there in the Gamebook, and this is often a significant play in a game. When an offensive lineman dives in and grabsaball fumbled by his teammatejust before a linebacker pounces on it, that could end up being the key play forhis team's win.

On the other hand, I would be opposed to the minus points for Fumbles NOT Lost. Too often you see a guy lose the ball and grab it right back as he is being tackled when there was never really any threat of him actually fumbling it away. I also wouldn't want to penalize the guy who drops the ball in the backfield without any defensive playersnear him, easily picks it up and then makes a decent play.

If you're paying attention, you will have noticed that thereseems to bea flaw in the way I presented applying this. If a player loses his grip on the ball for a second, and then picks it right back up, we wouldn't want to give him points for recovering his own fumble without taking anything away.

The solution forwhat I think would be a great addition to scoringis quite simple. Use the following formula for each player in a newscoring category:

First, determine the total number of Own Team's Fumbles Recovered MINUS the total number of Fumbles NOT Lost.

Then, multiply that number by however many points were to be given for each of these recoveries (2 or 3 pts seems right).

The formula would produce number X. If X is greater than 0, the player would get X points for this scoring category. IfX isany number less than 1, the player would get 0 points for this scoringcategory.