What Is A Touchback In Football?

A touchback in the game of Football can be often seen on defense, kickoffs, and offense. It is a ruling in the game of football that moves the ball to a specific position on the playing field. But the question remains what is a Touchback and what is its importance in the game?

In this article, I will be discussing “What is a Touchback in football” and more. Keep reading till the end of the article to find out more information about the same!

Touchback In Football

A Touchback in the game of Football can frequently be seen on defense, kickoffs, and offense. It is a form of ruling in Football which moves the ball to a particular position on the field. This makes you wonder “What is a Touchback in Football”. Well, A Touchback in Football is referred to as when the ball gets downed right behind the goal line after an interception or a kick. The ball then gets placed on the yard 25-line of the team that gets the touchback.

NFL Rulebook Definition

A Touchback in Football is when the ball becomes dead behind or on the goal line that a team is defending. Only provided that the impetus comes from an opponent and that is not an incomplete pass or a Touchdown. The ball then gets automatically reset at the 25 yard line for an offense.

How Does It Play Out?

In football what is a Touchback? When the team kicking, kicks the ball into the goal line of the receiving team, there becomes a strong possibility of the returner taking a knee. Overall there is a lot of risk in running the ball from the back of the end zone. A majority of the returners are taught that if the ball happens to go over the line – then to take a knee.

A touchback also gets signaled by the referee when a player who is on the receiving team catches the ball (from a kickoff/punt), and then runs out of the end zone or takes a knee. After the receiving player runs out of the end zone or takes a knee, the referee stops the ongoing match and the ball automatically gets placed at the 25 yard line.

The offense of the receiving team then comes to the field, and the defense of the kicking team then comes onto the field. The teams then frequently take a touchback as it gives them a better position on the field for being able to start their drive. Very rarely does a returning player take the ball out from their end zone as that may lead to a poor form of field position.

Only when the returning team has a player do they feel the impact of the football game by returning the ball which in turn allows the player to then return.

Keep reading till the end of the article to find out even more about what is a Touchback in Football!

Different Forms Of Touchback

There are a few different situations that can be considered as a Touchback in the game of Football0. Here are a few of the more common ones of them:

College Football Touchback (Fair Catch)

It is very common for fair catch touchbacks to happen in college football. What happens in these games is – teams get to call for a fair catch inside of the 25 yard line, then the ball automatically gets placed at the 25 yard line for the offense to start their drive.

This was a rule change that was set in place as kickoff is considered to be one of the most dangerous plays in the game of Football. The fair catch in these matches makes a ball dead and in return, no contact is possible to get made on the returner.

Touchback On Punt

This is yet another Touchback and gets made when the team that’s punting – punts the ball out of the end zone. This gets ruled as a Touchback, the sooner that a football crosses the goal line of the opponent after it has been kicked.

It is a very exciting play in the game of football as generally the players are acrobatic and try to save the football from going into the end zone.

If the team that’s punting touches the ball and it happens to travel into the end zone, that also ends up being a Touchback. When “Punting” the ball is supposed to stay in the field or at least out of bounds to avoid a Touchback from happening.

Touchback On Offense

This is considered to be a very rare type of Touchback and is one that gets done on offense. These are also called when the players try to dive for the pylon but then lose control of the ball and fumble it out of the end zone. After the ball gets rolled out of the end zone of the opponent led by the offensive team, the opposing team then takes possession of the ball starting right from the 25 yard line.

To Wrap It Up!

Touchbacks can be seen in almost every type of NFL and college games, but they are rarely seen to be occurring in high school games as the kickers do not have the necessary leg strength to reach the end zone.

Hopefully, all of that gave you an informative insight into “what is a Touchback in football”. Thank you for reading up till the end of the article.

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