Dead zone (gridiron football)
AMERICAN FOOTBALL RULE
Draft:Dead zone; Draft:Dead zone (American football); Dead zone (Canadian football); Dead zone (American football); Four-down territory
The dead zone (also known as four-down territory) is an area on the field of gridiron football where an offense is on their opponent's side of the field, but kicking a field goal would likely be unsuccessful and punting the ball would not dramatically change field position. The dead zone may exist anywhere from the opponent's 33 to 43-yard line, where a field goal attempt would be between 50 and 60 yards and punting the ball would likely result in a touchback (the punt bounces into the opponent's end zone and they begin their drive on their own 20-yard line resulting in a net gain of 13-23 yards on the punt).