Hilarious Kicking and Punting Fails

In the sport of football, kicks and punts are most often overlooked but sometimes steal the show. 

Between the time the ball is snapped and when the play is finally blown dead, kick and punt plays can both amaze and amuse.

With those underappreciated plays in mind—and out of general respect for all things funny—we've done our best to highlight 12 of football's most hilarious kicking and punting moments.

Some of the chosen plays spotlight kickers and punters specifically, while others bring humorously into focus those in charge of returning or covering the football.

No matter what, though, each moment inspires one specific thing: a special kind of laughter courtesy of special teams. 

Jumping for Joy

Of the moments we've chosen, this 2001 field goal is perhaps the best-known of them all. 

On the play, Bill Gramatica hit a 43-yard field goal to give his Arizona Cardinals a 3-0 first-quarter lead over the New York Giants. 

Of course, as most know by now, the kick itself immediately became secondary, as Gramatica amazingly proceeded to shred his ACL on the ensuing celebration.

It raises the question: Would Gramatica actually have been better served missing the kick altogether? 

The way we see it, jumping for joy after a first-quarter field goal is embarrassing enough. Tearing ligaments while doing so, however, is the type of thing early retirement is made of.  

For years, kickers have fought back against the "soft" label. In mere seconds, though, a gimpy Gramatica did all he possibly could to ruin said cause. 

'Excuse Me, I'd Like to Get by Now'

For reasons unknown, people love watching other people fall down. It doesn't matter how many times we see it; when others trip, it's usually hilarious. 

And the bigger the stage the better, which leads us to our next clip. 

On Nov. 6, 2010—in Week 1 of the college football season—Navy fell (pun intended) to Maryland 17-14.

However, it wasn't the loss but the Midshipmen's failed attempt to tie that got them on our list.

Racing against the clock while setting up for the game-tying field goal, Navy's special teams unit showed the world exactly what human dominoes would look like.

To be exact, the humorous fun began with a violent forearm shiver from Navy's big No. 70, which then set in motion a hilarious chain reaction.

There's really nothing glamorous about special teams to begin with. In this instance, though, Navy's unit created a new low, literally falling over itself in both failure and loss. 

'Get off My Back, Bro'

We now turn our attention to the punt, another of football's underappreciated art forms. 

Sometimes, though, when things go horribly wrong, the punt can be pretty hilarious.

Nebraska punter Sam Foltz knows exactly what we're talking about because in a game against Iowa on November 28, 2014, he shoved a lifetime of mistakes into one horrendous and hilarious play.

First, Foltz fumbled the snap from center, a rather regular occurrence.

What he did next, though, was truly special.

In a laughable attempt to undo his wrong and still manage to get the punt off, Foltz dug deep and kicked the football as hard as he could. But rather than traveling downfield, Foltz's kick instead reamed off the back of Zach Hannon, one of the punter's teammates.

And as if things couldn't get any worse from there, Foltz's punt ricocheted backwards off Hannon and right into the arms of a willing Hawkeye, who proceeded to race 12 yards for a touchdown. 

Asked to simply punt the ball far and forwards, Foltz managed to do oh so much more. 

In one fell swoop, he painfully lost possession—off his teammate's back, no less—and directly aided in the other team's scoring efforts. 

Wrong Way, Parker

As all football fans know, the punt is often about much more than the guy kicking the ball.

In fact, the return itself regularly steals the show.

And in 2012, Kent State's Andre Parker did just that, only in a hilariously backwards kind of way.

With his team punting to Towson near the end of the first half, Parker raced down the field to—as most assumed—down the football.

Somehow, though, between the snap and arriving at the ball, No. 10 completely lost his way.

As if totally forgetting which team he played for, Parker picked up the football, turned around and sprinted 58 yards...in the wrong direction.

So you see, in a sport all about keeping opponents guessing, Parker gave new meaning to the concept of misdirection.

Blind Rage

We now move to the high school level but stick with the whole "identity crisis" theme.

In this unbelievably hilarious moment, a kick returner was done in by his own teammate.

In the midst of a really impressive play—in which No. 32 made five guys from the other team miss—the kick returner was finally brought down by a really confused—or perhaps angry—teammate.

The tackle itself—which required an athlete to completely forget the way football is played—was sufficiently funny. Nothing, however, compares to the reactions of complete disgust that follow.  

Now You See Me, Now You Don't

For this moment, we take a break from bloopers and go with a hilarious punt play that actually worked to perfection.

In a sport where specialists garner so little respect, this play featured a punter getting the last laugh. 

On it, Pat Thomas and the rest of the Bills rushed punter A.J. Trapasso like lions pouncing on prey and appeared to be in perfect position to block the kick.

In nifty fashion, however, Trapasso made the entire Buffalo defense look like fools, embarrassing them first with a fake kick before embarrassing them again with his wheels by racing 40 yards for the score. 

While football is so often dominated by physical matchups and bone-crushing hits, here a punter used smarts to make "real athletes" look real silly. 

Now that's funny.

A Kick to Remember

Back to high school football we go, where apparently anything is possible.

In this selection, a kicker sent the football a total of 12 yards...in the wrong direction. 

In truth, then, this moment is as impressive as it is hilarious.

Give any kicker on earth 100 chances to pull this stunt off, and he fails—or succeeds, depending on how you look at it—100 times in a row. 

Two for You

From backwards kick to backwards punt we go.

In this hilarious moment, Arizona Western's punter managed to not only punt the ball 20 yards in the wrong direction but for a safety as well.

Punts are blocked for two-point scores multiple times every year. This one, however, was never touched—that is, by anything other than the punter's foot.

Of course, when the most conservative defensive play in the books instead turns into unforced points for the opponent, you know you're in for a long and probably pretty humorous day. 

Premature Celebration

In a way, you have to feel for a high school football player who doesn't know all of football's many rules. That doesn't, however, mean you can't laugh at him.

Fast forward to the end of the clip (the 1:30 mark, to be exact) to see how one excited and confused kid can unbelievably, in hilarious fashion, blow a football game.

In this dramatic high school affair, Otter Valley held a two-point lead over Mt. Mansfield with just 1.3 seconds remaining in the game. 

And when Mt. Mansfield's 46-yard desperation field goal fell well short of the uprights, Otter Valley had victory in its clutches.

That is until Casey Babcock got hold of the ball...and forgot the rules.

Thinking his team had already won the game—and to be clear, it hadn't—Babcock caught the missed field goal and then spiked the ball in premature celebration.

In reality, though, all Babcock really did was fumble the football and give Mt. Mansfield the opportunity to regain possession and score the game-winning touchdown, which is exactly what it did. 

And while part of us absolutely feels for Babcock, that part can't quiet the other part which finds outright hilarity in Babcock's "victory" celebration and subsequent blunder. 

'Wait, What?'

Sometimes the best things in life are the ones you don't understand at all.

Of course, this Canadian moment fits into that category with ease. 

It all went down in 2010: The Toronto Argonauts and Montreal Alouettes found themselves knotted up at 30-30 with just nine seconds remaining in the game and Montreal setting up to attempt a 36-yard, game-winning field goal.

Yet when Damon Duval sprayed the aforementioned kick wide, a simple play turned wild.

Putting the "foot" into football, chaos ensued as the game transformed from ordinary outing into outright kick-fest (in Canadian football, both teams have the chance to score on missed field goals that land in the end zone). 

And as players from both teams proceeded with their best Lionel Messi imitations, viewers can't help but laugh hysterically while simultaneously asking, "Wait, what?"

You Can't Hit What You Don't See

This play was inventive, genius, pitiful and hilarious all at once. 

As it turns out, defenders rarely watch the football when trying to cover a punt, a fact the St. Louis Rams took full advantage of in early 2014.

In this moment, Seattle's Jon Ryan boomed the punt downfield, while Tavon Austin—who was the primary punt returner for St. Louis—raced toward the right sideline and motioned as if he ready to field the punt.

At the same time—as Seattle's defense was barreling toward Austin—Stedman Bailey positioned himself along the opposite sideline, in the area the punt was actually heading.

When the ball landed safely into Bailey's arms, the second-year wideout found himself with a virtually clear path all the way to the end zone. 

And although the play fake is likely one that will never work again, it was both hilarious and awesome the first time around. 

Brownsided

Our final hilarious moment includes both a punt and a kick, though the latter was of the less conventional sort.

In Week 1 of the 2014 NFL season, Pittsburgh WR Antonio Brown made national headlines by turning in the funniest and most ferocious punt return of all time. 

Upon fielding said punt, Brown was immediately off to the races, picking up big chunks of yards while making multiple Browns miss. Then, out of nowhere and with only the punter to beat, the speedy Steeler decided to literally jump-kick a defenseless Spencer Lanning right in the face. 

Of course, the sad truth is that punters are already demeaned and diminished enough. The last thing Lanning needed, then, was Brown's boot to his jaw. 

Brown, however, clearly saw things differently.

And it's like they always say: If you can't run by your opponent kick him hard, right in the face.