A Montreal Alouettes CFL onside punt on Oct. 28, 2023. A Montreal Alouettes CFL onside punt on Oct. 28, 2023.
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While the NFL world is fired up in a debate over the legality of the “Tush Push” or “Brotherly Shove” quarterback sneak, the Canadian Football League has its own rules debate ongoing. And that one’s about an onside punt.

CFL rules allow for “open-field kicks” at any time. The player who kicks the ball (or anyone level with or behind them, as those players would also be termed onside) can recover it after it goes at least one yard, as long as a series of conditions are met (the offensive line can’t be more than a yard down field, and the recovering player can’t interfere with an opponent trying to recover the ball). That sets up a new set of downs if the ball was kicked from behind the line of scrimmage and crossed the line of scrimmage.

And the Montreal Alouettes have now done this successfully twice this year.

The Alouettes first pulled that off on Sept. 30 against the Ottawa Redblacks. And they did it again in their final regular-season game Saturday against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats:

Running back Jeshrun Antwi pulled this off in September, but this time, it was wide receiver Cole Spieker who did it. And he did it perfectly, kicking the ball from just behind the line of scrimmage at the Alouettes’ 40 and getting it to go just over a yard before falling on it. This time, there was a Ticats’ defender at least somewhat in the area, but the defender couldn’t close on it fast enough. Here’s the on-broadcast explanation of this:

This turned a second-and-very-long following a first-down sack (and remember, Canadian football only has three downs) into a fresh set of downs. And it let the Alouettes continue with their drive; they only gained eight yards on the next set of downs and wound up punting anyway, but did so from better field position. And they wound up winning 22-20, so while this certainly wasn’t the decisive moment, it did give them some advantage, and this was a close game.

But the play sparked a lot of debate, with CFL writers, fans, and former players all weighing in on if this should continue to be allowed or not:

Current Edmonton Elks’ kicker Dean Faithfull is in the group fine with this rule as is:

One interesting note on this came from Toronto Argonauts’ fan and historian James Fraser, who mentioned that Canadian amateur football rules only allow for a first down here if the necessary yardage is gained:

So this is definitely an only-in-the-CFL thing. And, much like the Brotherly Shove, it has its fans and critics. (The dribble kick here is only one of the many potential ways to make an onside punt work, though, and some of those other uses have spawned less controversy.) There is a lot that can potentially go wrong with this play, and it’s quite challenging to execute (which is why we haven’t seen it used more), so it’s not necessarily game-breaking.

But while some like what it brings to the game, and how it connects with the CFL’s unique kicking rules and heritage, others aren’t on board.

In any case, the Alouettes have certainly figured out how to use this. And their playoff opponents will have to be wary of it. That includes the Tiger-Cats, who will head to Montreal for a rematch of this game in the Eastern semi-final this coming Saturday.

[The Comeback on Twitter]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz