Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

In the 1981 Monday Night season finale, San Diego's George Roberts had his punt blocked by Oakland. San Diego's Jim Laslavic recovers the ball and runs a few yards for a first down.

Questions:

How is the play scored? What category does Laslavic's yardage go under (rushing yards, return yards, something else?). Oakland never technically had possession, so it wasn't a turnover, and it appeared that Laslavic still needed to achieve first-down yardage for San Diego to retain possession, so there was a continuation of San Diego possession throughout the play as far as I could tell.

Does Laslavic get any individual statistical credit, or is there no category for this? It's not a fumble recovery or a rushing attempt, so what is it?

From a team perspective, what type of first down is it? I've seen first downs sorted into rushing, passing or penalty, and it doesn't seem like this is any of those.

What other examples can you think of where an offensive team suffers a blocked kick, but somehow recovers the ball and advances it for a first down? Chester Marcol's famous FG block recovery for an overtime TD comes to mind immediately, but I'm blanking on any others, which is why I would like to activate the powers of the FORUM!!

Clyde Simmons returned a blocked field goal for a TD against the Giants in 1988.

Evan wrote:In the 1981 Monday Night season finale, San Diego's George Roberts had his punt blocked by Oakland. San Diego's Jim Laslavic recovers the ball and runs a few yards for a first down.

Questions:

How is the play scored? What category does Laslavic's yardage go under (rushing yards, return yards, something else?). Oakland never technically had possession, so it wasn't a turnover, and it appeared that Laslavic still needed to achieve first-down yardage for San Diego to retain possession, so there was a continuation of San Diego possession throughout the play as far as I could tell.

Does Laslavic get any individual statistical credit, or is there no category for this? It's not a fumble recovery or a rushing attempt, so what is it?

From a team perspective, what type of first down is it? I've seen first downs sorted into rushing, passing or penalty, and it doesn't seem like this is any of those.

What other examples can you think of where an offensive team suffers a blocked kick, but somehow recovers the ball and advances it for a first down? Chester Marcol's famous FG block recovery for an overtime TD comes to mind immediately, but I'm blanking on any others, which is why I would like to activate the powers of the FORUM!!

It's one of those stat rules that really make no sense - it's a first down rushing even though Laslavic gets no credit for a rushing attempt, etc.

TodMaher wrote:

Evan wrote:In the 1981 Monday Night season finale, San Diego's George Roberts had his punt blocked by Oakland. San Diego's Jim Laslavic recovers the ball and runs a few yards for a first down.

Questions:

How is the play scored? What category does Laslavic's yardage go under (rushing yards, return yards, something else?). Oakland never technically had possession, so it wasn't a turnover, and it appeared that Laslavic still needed to achieve first-down yardage for San Diego to retain possession, so there was a continuation of San Diego possession throughout the play as far as I could tell.

Does Laslavic get any individual statistical credit, or is there no category for this? It's not a fumble recovery or a rushing attempt, so what is it?

From a team perspective, what type of first down is it? I've seen first downs sorted into rushing, passing or penalty, and it doesn't seem like this is any of those.

What other examples can you think of where an offensive team suffers a blocked kick, but somehow recovers the ball and advances it for a first down? Chester Marcol's famous FG block recovery for an overtime TD comes to mind immediately, but I'm blanking on any others, which is why I would like to activate the powers of the FORUM!!

It's one of those stat rules that really make no sense - it's a first down rushing even though Laslavic gets no credit for a rushing attempt, etc.

That's right. The NFL game book recorded it as

4-2 C-28 Roberts punt blocked by Hayes, recovered by Laslavic at 23 turns to 32 for 9 FIRST DOWN RUSHING

But I don't see any other stats on it -- and nothing for Laslavic.

From the NFL Guide for Statisticians, p. 20: "When a punt or a field goal attempt is blocked and recovered by the offensive team behind the line of scrimmage, any running advance is treated as miscellaneous yardage. In the rare case when the offensive player attempts a forward pass after a blocked kick, include it as a passing attempt and any completion as passing yardage. However, if the player is tackled behind the line of scrimmage do not treat this as yards lost attempting to pass. In the latter case, merely note the player recovered a blocked kick."

It's one of those stat rules that really make no sense - it's a first down rushing even though Laslavic gets no credit for a rushing attempt, etc.[/quote]

That's right. The NFL game book recorded it as

4-2 C-28 Roberts punt blocked by Hayes, recovered by Laslavic at 23 turns to 32 for 9 FIRST DOWN RUSHING

But I don't see any other stats on it -- and nothing for Laslavic.[/quote]
As I said NO RUSHING STATS FOR LASLAVIC, but rushing first down for the TEAM. (Yes, it is a screwy stat rule that makes no sense):

On aborted plays where there is a fumble and subsequent recovery, and advance results in a first down
or a touchdown, it shall be considered a first down rushing. Similarly, if following a blocked punt or
field goal attempt, a player on the kicking team recovers and runs for a first down or a touchdown, credit
a first down rushing, even though any yardage gained is treated as miscellaneous yardage.

What other yardage is "treated as miscellaneous yardage?"

In this world of stat rats, certainly someone has charted the accumulation of miscellaneous yardage -
per game, per season, per life of franchise. Obviously, longevity helps.
Can a team have "minus miscellaneous yardage?"

Is it safe to say the miscellaneous yardage record is held by either Chicago or Green Bay?
Phoenix should be disqualified because the environmental impurities of playing on so many different home fields
must be considered.
If anything, any Phoenix fame to claim should bear an ash-terisk.

There are only three other instances that I know of that fall under miscellaneous yard: Return of a blocked punt, return of a blocked field goal, and return of fair catch kick.

rhickok1109 wrote:There are only three other instances that I know of that fall under miscellaneous yard: Return of a blocked punt, return of a blocked field goal, and return of fair catch kick.

Return of a missed field goal, which is where the "record longest" instances all derive from.

oldecapecod 11 wrote:What other yardage is "treated as miscellaneous yardage?"

In this world of stat rats, certainly someone has charted the accumulation of miscellaneous yardage -
per game, per season, per life of franchise. Obviously, longevity helps.
Can a team have "minus miscellaneous yardage?"

Is it safe to say the miscellaneous yardage record is held by either Chicago or Green Bay?
Phoenix should be disqualified because the environmental impurities of playing on so many different home fields
must be considered.
If anything, any Phoenix fame to claim should bear an ash-terisk.

Only other instance I can recall was 1998. Cardinals-Bears. Ronald McKinnon intercepted 3 passes, and after the Bears blocked a punt in 4th and 18, he picked up the ball and ran 23 yards.