Did anyone catch that trick punt return by the Bears?

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by Dave

Nevermind. It's while the ball is in the air on 21. Shitty call as it had nothing to do with the return.

disagree. ANY hold while the ball is in the air impacts the return. No one on the kicking team is "out of the play" until the receiver has it and is clearly never going to be caught by him.

As it happened, it didn't have anything to do with the return because almost everyone was fooled, but the ref couldn't have known the trick play was on when the ball was in the air.