Sometimes punts don’t even make it back to the line of scrimmage.
Negative-yard punts, 1978-present
Boxscore link to Pro Football Reference. Video. Home team in italics.
| Date | Kicking | Receiving | Yds | Punter | Punt | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/3/1978 | Seattle Seahawks | San Diego Chargers | -1 | Jeff West | kicked high, OOB | |
| 9/17/1978 | Buffalo Bills | Miami Dolphins | -24 | Rusty Jackson | snap over head, hastily punted ball went OOB1The Bills protested that Jackson should not have been charged with a negative punt and the NFL apparently initially agreed to charge him with a punt for 0 yards, but the NFL never went through with the change. | |
| 9/23/1984 | Minnesota Vikings | Detroit Lions | -9 | Greg Coleman | snap over head, hastily punted ball was dead behind line | |
| 1/5/1986 NFC DIV |
New York Giants | Chicago Bears | -7 | Sean Landeta | wind blew ball, whiffed kick, Shaun Gayle 5 yd TD | |
| 12/10/1988 | Philadelphia Eagles | Phoenix Cardinals | -6 | John Teltschik2Teltschik, the Eagles’ usual punter, was the field goal holder to start this play. | FG snap over head, emergency punt was tipped by Ricky Hunley to himself, returned for 4 yd. Snapped from the PHX11.3The statistician originally recorded this as a blocked punt with no return yardage because the play was so bizarre-looking, but it was revised to a -6 yd punt. The Eagles drive started following a safety for the Cardinals punt being blocked out of the end zone. | |
| 10/22/1989 | Seattle Seahawks | Denver Broncos | -2 | Ruben Rodriguez | kicked high, landed 4 yards downfield, bounced back behind line and recovered by Rodriguez4Even though the ball landed beyond the line, it was still a live ball when Rodriguez picked up the ball behind the line. Since he made no attempt to advance, the head linesman waited briefly, then declared the play dead. | |
| 12/10/1989 | Detroit Lions | Chicago Bears | -10 | Jim Arnold | kicked into back of teammate, OOB | |
| 9/15/1991 | New England Patriots | Pittsburgh Steelers | -1 | Bryan Wagner5Wagner was cut the next day after only 3 games with the Patriots. | kicked into back of teammate in end zone, Ernie Mills 0 yd TD | |
| 11/23/1997 | Seattle Seahawks | Kansas City Chiefs | -6 | Rick Tuten6Tuten was the Seahawks punter, but entered the game with a groin injury and was only activated to be the holder for placekicks. Keith Richardson was signed as punter, but was concussed on an earlier punt return, forcing Tuten to punt. Richardson returned to the game after the Tuten punt. | kicked high due to injury, bounced OOB | |
| 9/15/2002 | Cincinnati Bengals | Cleveland Browns | -2 | Neil Rackers7Placekicker. Along with Tuten, one of two players to have negative punt yardage in a game. | Bengals lined up for 51-yard field goal but snapped directly to placekicker to pooch punt; Rackers muffed snap and punted in a panic; OOB at CLE35 | |
| 9/25/2022 | Miami Dolphins | Buffalo Bills | -1 | Thomas Morstead | punted into teammate’s backside in end zone, OOB for SAFETY8Statistician entered it as a blocked punt, then added a note that states it’s not a blocked punt (apparently a software limitation wouldn’t allow a safety to be recorded otherwise). Stat correction was issued on Monday. Because the line of scrimmage was the MIA1, this is scored as a -1 yard punt, even though the ball went over the end line. |
