Thursday night’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams has been a weird one. We saw an extra point bounce off the uprights. We got to see both Russell Wilson and Matt Stafford deal with finger-related issues (in Wilson’s case, we got to see his dislocated finger many times. We got to see Geno Smith, who you didn’t even realize was still in the league, throw a touchdown.
Oh, and we got to see a double punt, which you probably didn’t even realize is legal.
The Seahawks were down 16-7 in the third quarter when punter Michael Dickson lined up for a very normal punt. Unfortunately for him, it was blocked. But fortunately for him, it bounced around for a bit, he was able to retrieve it, and punted AGAIN down, down the field.
The ball ended up traveling 68 yards but everyone immediately assumed there was no way that a double punt was legal and it was about to be called back.
Turns out, it’s very legal because the ball didn’t cross the line of scrimmage. Had the ball bounced forward of that line, it would have been illegal.
As you might imagine, minds were blown all across the nation, even amongst those who cover the NFL for a living.
So there you go. Who knew that Thursday Night Football would be such a learning experience?