Field Goal Return Touchdowns

Q:   My question is a scoring issue.  Our league scoring awards 6 points for a defensive touchdown, and 2 points for a blocked field goal.  In the case of the San Diego Chargers returning the missed field goal for a touchdown this past Sunday the coach with the Chargers defense playing was not awarded points for this play as a touchdown.  It should also be noted that defenses are not awarded points for special teams’ returns/touchdowns.  Would you award the points based on the philosophy that the defense is awarded points for blocking the field goal, and therefore this is technically a defensive play, or not award the points based on this being considered a special teams play?

A:  Tough one.  As you stated, your particular league clearly does not award points for special teams touchdowns (as opposed to leagues that let you play a DST instead of just a defense).

While both sides of this argument have merit we feel a field goal return TD is much more like a punt return TD (points not counted) than an interception return TD (points counted) so the points should not be awarded.

Its definitely a situation not specifically addressed by your league rules so the easiest solution is to honor the way your league awarded (or in this case didn’t award) points.  Going forward your league should definitely vote on how such situations are handled in the future.  If the majority believes that it should be considered a touchdown (we’d probably vote this way based on your logic below), then there you have it.  For this particular situation, with no previously established rules, we don’t think its fair to overrule your league websites decision.