The Packers pulled off one of the more sneaky penalties in recent memory against the Lions Sunday. Green Bay returner Ty Montgomery went to field the kickoff, but when the ball bounced close to the sideline, he saw an opportunity to gain some free yardage.
Essentially, if a player is out of bounds when they touch the ball, then the ball is also ruled to have been out of bounds. And when this happens on a kickoff, it is a penalty on the kicking team that gives the receiving team the ball on their own 40 yard line.
Here is Fox NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira, to break the aforementioned play down.
Ty Montgomery made a brilliant play on a kickoff.
Here's why pic.twitter.com/jhJo6zGM9K
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) September 25, 2016
This is not the first time Green Bay has employed this particular bit of gamesmanship. Back in 2012, Randall Cobb did basically the same maneuver against the Titans.
I was confused by kickoff out of bounds penalty on #Lions. Turns out, #Packers ST have been here before in 2012 with Randall Cobb… pic.twitter.com/hZq4YtDZzK
— Law Murray 🐦🔥 (@LawMurrayTheNU) September 25, 2016
The Packers are clearly familiar with the out-of-bounds section of their rulebooks, and do not be surprised to see more NFL teams employ this strategy moving forward. Kickers, beware.
