pooch punt

n. in American football, a kick made just short of the opposing goal; a kick made for purposes of strategy rather than for scoring a field goal. Also as v., to pooch-punt, to pooch-kick, or to pooch (a ball). Also pooch kick, n. Subjects: English, Football, Sports & Recreation

Editorial Note: A pooch punt is often defined as being inside the 20-yard line. It can be used to place a ball so the kicking team can attempt to retrieve it, to place it so that the receiving team is forced to play the ball rather than down it, or to put it far from a skilled receiver.

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Citations: 1967 Washington Post (Sept. 19) “5-4 SMU Hero Worries About Weight” (in Dallas, Texas) p. D2: Since Perez was a good one at “pooch kicking”—that is putting it down inside the five-yard line—he was kept. 1972 Kenneth Denlinger @ Carlisle, Pa. Washington Post (July 29) “Redskins’ Seminar Specializes in Kicks” p. C1: Knight seems to be experimenting with a new “squib” onsides kick-off and Bragg concentrates on “pooches” and “skyrides,” punts designed either to go out of bounds or come to rest deep in the opposition’s territory. 1983 Gary Pomerantz Washinton Post (Oct. 7) “Special Teams Make a Splash For Redskins” p. D1: Hayes is instructed to “pooch punt” inside the 20, setting up ill-field position for the opponent. 1985 Tom FitzGerald San Francisco Chroicle (California) (Jan. 18) “An Eye For Hidden Talent” p. 77: When they got inside the 50, they brought in another kicker to do the pooch punts and the out-of-bounds stuff. 1992 Vic Carucci Buffalo News (N.Y.) (Nov. 14) “Winning Means Less Of Mohr Bills Punter Accepts Unimpressive Stats” p. B1: The range of your kicks, also due to the offense’s success, will often be tight and force you to try to pooch the ball to keep it from going into the end zone. 1997 John Marshall @ Haltom City Dallas Morning News (Texas) (Jan. 25) “Vietnamese brothers unite to lead Haltom soccer team” p. 5N: He was so talented at pooch-kicking or kicking the ball deep. He pooch-kicked it so high that he almost hit the ceiling of Texas Stadium. 1999 Jack Brimberg, W.J. Hurley, R.E. Johnson Operations Research (May-June) “A Punt Returner Location Problem” vol. 47, no. 3, p. 483: In the case where the punting team is close to the opponent’s goalline, the punter may try to put the ball out of bounds as close as possible to the opponent’s goalline (“coffin corner”) or as close as possible to the opponent’s goalline where his teammates can “down” the ball before it reaches the end-zone (“pooch punt”). 2005 Tim Bisel Capital-Journal (Topeka, Kan.) (Oct. 28) “Wildcat notebook”: He is unbelievable in what people call pooch punting, kicking the ball inside the 20-yard line.

Posted 1 Nov 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend