4th down punt, possible pass situation

[horton]

Here's my question, in 11 man it usually seems fairly obvious that Team A is going to punt, but in sixman I notice a lot of teams will snap to the upback with a pitch to a deep back. The deep back will then read the defense for possible long or pass or run, if he see neither he will punt the ball. My question is if the deep back is a threat to run or pass and as he rolls out he starts to punt how do you guys apply the roughing the kicker penalty? Are there situations where you would allow for contact based on the actions of the deepback?

 

[JasonTX]

This is pretty much the same as the ruling in 11 man for the rugby style kickers. They receive the snap and then take off running outside the tackle box and kick the ball on the run. In 11 man they don't have the usual protection that a standard punter would have. In 6 man it would be the same. Both of these situations are not obvious that a kick is going to be made so the defender would not be committing a foul for running into or roughing. Now, this doesn't mean he can just totally wipe out that player because he still has the same protection as any other defenseless player. It's just that if the contact is unavoidable then he shouldn't be flagged.

 

[horton]

Ok thanks, just looking for what to coach my guys on, had a situation recently where we got flagged for roughing but it was nearly a tackle before the punt.