Explain This
 

KC @ Chicago, less than 2 minutes in the 1st half:

We kick-off and the Bears return man catches the ball on the bounce near the sideline with one foot in and then his other foot lands out.

The ref calls a penalty on KC for kicking the ball out of bounds and gives the Bears the ball at the 40.

WTF?

Also, there was another play inside 2 minutes of the first half which I thought was worthy of a review but it didn't happen.

Anyone recall that one?

That was new to me as well.

I thought he'd be down where he stepped out.

Great play, good coaching. Heads up play, you gotta know the rules.

Perfectly legal. It's in the rule book. If a player catches the ball with one foot out of bounds the ball will be ruled out of bounds. They talked about it on the broadcast, about coaches trying to teach that move to players.

I was just going to post the same question. I was in a noisy bar and couldn't hear the announcers well. All I could hear was "it's a little known rule.."

I've never heard of that rule in all of my life. Whatever. It was legit and our kicker shouldn't have been kicking to him in the first place. Did we forget that during the game? The ineptness has spread like wildfire.

So.... could a player catch the ball on one foot while leaping out of bounds? Because his second foot(out of bounds) wasn't down when he caught the ball.

This seems it would be easy to exploit....

I think that was a long way from a good play - Hester got a lucky break, IMHO. If you watch him after he notices he's out of bounds, he looked upset - I don't think he planned that. He benefited from a really stupid rule...

What possible logic is there for that rule, anyway?

That's what I didn't understand.

I understand the rule to mean that Hester could have established position OOB before he touched the ball.

That didn't happen. He touched the ball before he established position OOB.

I noticed he caught the ball before his foot was down out of bounds too, and it confused me. Seemed like all the explanations were saying it was because he had one foot out of bounds when the ball was caught, which technically wasn't true...

FWIW, I'd rather have an explanation about the obvious missed block in the back on Bennett during Hester's TD.

This is, in fact, the case.

Hester got very lucky. He caught the ball when he had only one foot on the ground then the other came down out of bounds. Personally, I don't think he meant to do that.

In a Cowboys/Giants Monday night game a few years back, the Giants squib kicked late in the game and it went toward the sideline. The Cowboy return man got out of bounds (inside the 10, I think), reached back in bounds to pick up the ball. Penalty on the kicking team. Ball placed at the 40. THAT was a heads up play. Hester's was a lucky mistake IMO.

I don't think anyone is arguing that.

He wasn't OOB when he first touched the ball.

He caught the ball, THEN stepped OOB with his right foot.

I could be wrong, but he needs to establish position with one foot OOB BEFORE he touches the ball.

Wouldn't be at all surprised to get another "we ****ed up" letter from the league this week.

My old man and I rewound it several times, and it was very clear that his foot was not down out of bounds before he had possession of the ball. He caught the ball, had possession, and then his right foot came down OOB.

By that logic, there are a number of ways you could use that to your advantage anytime the ball comes down close to the sideline on a kickoff.