On punts and field goal attempts ( but not kickoffs ), members of the kicking team, other than the kicker and any teammates who are onside ( behind the kicker at the time of the kick ), may not approach within five yards of the ball until it has been touched by the receiving team.

The Steelers won Super Bowl X and Super Bowl XIII ; both games were decided in the final seconds, first on a last-second throw by Roger Staubach, then as a fourth-quarter rally by Dallas fell short on an onside kick.

To the surprise of some, the Redskins did not try an onside kick, but instead kicked deep.

Minnesota recovered their ensuing onside kick, but an offsides penalty on the Vikings nullified the play, and they subsequently kicked deep.

After Gerry Mullins recovered Dallas ' onside kick attempt, the Steelers then tried to run out the clock on the next drive with four straight running plays, but the Cowboys defense stopped them on fourth down at their 39-yard line, giving Dallas one more chance to win.

Then after Dallas ' Dennis Thurman recovered an onside kick at 2: 19, Drew Pearson caught 2 passes for gains of 22 and 25 yards ( the second catch on 4th down and 18 ) as the Cowboys drove 52 yards in 9 plays to score on Staubach's 4-yard touchdown pass to Butch Johnson.

But the Cowboys ' second onside kick attempt was unsuccessful.

The Bengals managed to score their final touchdown with 20 seconds left, but could not recover the ensuing onside kick.

The Bengals tried an onside kick, but Clark recovered the ball for the 49ers, allowing San Francisco to run out the clock to win the game.

But New York recovered his ensuing onside kick attempt and stormed right back for more points.

Then, after recovering an onside kick, the Bills drove 50 yards and scored another touchdown with Beebe's 4-yard reception to make the score 37 – 24.

But the Bills ' second onside kick attempt was unsuccessful and the Redskins were able to run out the clock.

Then Buffalo recovered an onside kick and immediately scored again on Reich's 36-yard touchdown pass to Beebe.

San Francisco recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran time off the clock before punting to the San Diego 7.

On the ensuing kickoff, Pittsburgh surprised the Cowboys by executing a successful onside kick, with defensive back Deon Figures recovering the ball for Pittsburgh at their own 47-yard line.

Dwight returned the ensuing kickoff 94-yards for a touchdown to cut the score 31-13, but the Broncos recovered Atlanta's ensuing onside kick attempt.

Atlanta failed to recover the onside kick, but got the ball back on their own 30-yard line with 1: 34 left after Denver failed to " go for it " on fourth down.

In the final 12 seconds of the game, the Crush would have Quarterback John Dutton complete a seven-yard touchdown pass to Wide Receiver Damian Harrell ( with a failed two-point conversion ), recover an onside kick, and have Dutton complete a 33-yard pass to Harrell.

However, L. A. managed to recover an onside kick and on the very last play of the game, Quarterback Tony Graziani threw a 32-yard touchdown pass that flinged off the rebound net and was caught by WR / LB Greg Hopkins, giving the Avengers a 64-63 win.

In a miraculous feat of strength, Wide receiver / Defensive back Barry Wagner would catch two touchdown passes, get two two-point conversions, recover an onside kick, and made a game-ending tackle.

* onside kick ( 1894 ; possibly contributor )

After the Bulldogs missed two field goals and failed to recover an onside kick after their first score, the Gators took a 14 – 3 halftime lead.

After one short TD drive, the Colts recovered the onside kick.

The Saints recovered an onside kick to start the second half and took their first lead, 13 – 10.

In American and Canadian football, an onside kick ( sometimes onsides kick ) is a type of kick used at a kickoff or other free kick, or scrimmage kick or other kick during play, in which the ball is kicked favorably for the kicking team to avoid giving away the ball.

Meyerbeer, apart from any of his personal feelings, needed Heine onside as an influential personality and writer on music.

* The IFAB reforms the offside law, reducing the number of opposing players required to be in front of the attacker for him to be onside from three to two.

In essence, an " onside kick " in American football is the same as any other kickoff or free kick, except that it is kicked in a particular way in order to give the kicking team the best chance of fielding the ball and retaining possession -- typically in a diagonal direction and as close to the advancing players from the kicking team as possible.

More recently, in Super Bowl XLIV, the New Orleans Saints called an onside kick from kickoff formation at the start of the second half and successfully converted the possession into a touchdown.

Denver then recovered the ensuing onside kick, but the Bills clinched the victory after defensive back Kirby Jackson forced and recovered a fumble from running back Steve Sewell.

Kicking off from the 50-yard line, LSU successfully executes an onside kick and scores a touchdown on the ensuing drive.

During a key week 15 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Hagler returned an onside kick from Josh Scobee 41 yards for a touchdown.

Common variants on the typical kickoff format include the onside kick, in which the kicking team attempts to regain possession of the ball ; a touchback, which may occur if the ball is kicked into the receiving team's end zone ; or a fair catch, in which a player on the receiving team waives his entitlement to attempt a return in exchange for a chance to catch the ball without interference from the kicking team.

* Except for the first onside kick attempt, if a kickoff goes out of bounds, the receiving team takes possession of the ball 30 yards from the spot of the kick or the spot it went out of bounds.

* The penalty for a kickoff or onside kick that goes out of bounds is 5 yards from the previous spot and a re-kick must be made.

A player of the kicking team ( at any kick, not just a free kick ) who is " onside " may recover the ball and retain possession for his team.

The form of onside kick available at a free kick in American football ( see below ) is also available in Canadian football for a kickoff as well ; however, the kick may well be chipped high instead of bounced, because the players of the receiving team have no particular first right to the ball as in American football ( due to the fair catch rule ); both sides may play the ball equally, even in the air.

There have been versions of American football that allow or allowed the kicking team to recover the ball once it hit the ground, regardless of onside or offside, and not only for free kicks.

All place-kicked balls — kick-offs, field goal attempts, and the like — are live balls, which may be played in one way or another by either team ( subject to restrictions in the case of any " free " kick: see onside kick ).

The neutral zone is also observed on a free kick down ( which occurs immediately after a safety is scored ), during which no member of either team except the holder and kicker may be in the neutral zone before the ball is kicked, nor can any onside kick be recovered by the kicking team until it has completely passed through the neutral zone.

A finesse is said to be onside or on if the finessable honor is favorably placed and offside or off if it is not.

If West is holding the king ( it is " onside "), North-South will win two tricks, for a gain of one trick without losing a trick.

Note that this does not necessarily mean he is committing an offside offence ; it only becomes an offence if the ball were to be played to him at this moment, whether or not he is in an offside position when he receives the ball, as he could receive the ball in an onside position but he'd still have committed an offside offence.

A player who is in an offside position remains offside until played onside in one of several ways:

An attacking player is offside if he is in front of the ball: if he is in front of a ball which is then kicked, he can be put onside if the kicker subsequently moves ahead of him before the ball is caught.

In rugby, while the forward pass is prohibited, a team in possession may legally kick the ball downfield and recapture possession, provided that the receiver of the kick was onside when the kick was made ( i. e., level with or behind the kicker.

This form of onside kick is still legal in Canadian football, just as in rugby.

Since at least 1923, the onside kick has been subject to additional constraints in most forms of American football, and the term is now something of a misnomer in American football.

Overall, between 2003 and 2006, an onside kick in the NFL was successful about 20 % of the time ( 41 times out of 206 attempts ), though there is a wide discrepancy between surprise kicks and those that the hands team expects.

Accordingly, some analysts have suggested that the surprise onside kick is an underutilized strategy.