For as long as I’ve been old enough to be a football fan (since the early-80s, essentially), the uniform practice in a football (NFL or college) has been that the length of a field goal (or extra point) is the line of scrimmage + 7 yards back for the holder to set up + 10 yards from the goal line to the back of the end zone—so that, say, when the line of scrimmage is the 23 yard line, it is a 40 yard kick, and so forth. IOW, 17 yards has been the ritual.
In the last few years, I’ve noticed that (in NFL games, at least) the ritual has changed, so that now you really need to tack on 18 yards. Most announcers still do the math “in their head” (yet out-loud), especially in tight spots at the end of the game, assuming an additional 17 yards, but the announcers will then say (using the earlier example), “Officially, it’ll be a 41 yard attempt.” IOW, there’s an extra yard in there, and it is because the holder is setting up a little further behind the line of scrimmage.
My question is, Why is this?
I could hazard some guesses. For instance, maybe defenders trying to block the kick have gotten quicker off the snap, forcing a little more room for the kicker. In a related sense, perhaps kickers/special teams coaches have decided that (at least for longer kicks, which is really what I’m wondering about), the kicker needs the extra room. Maybe kickers have as a class changed their style; maybe a lower trajectory yields more accurate kicks. I really don’t know.
The reason that the kick may be “18 yards” behind the line of scrimmage has to do with the spotting of the ball. If the ball is spotted on the 23 1/2 yard line (mid way between 23 and 24), then the kick will be made 17 yards back, from the 40.5 yard line. This is then rounded up.
There are some cases however, of a kicker lining up further behind the snapper for reasons such as a second more of protection, and such. I have also seen a punter line up 25 yards back because they were too far away for the PK to launch it through the uprights, and they didn’t want to launch the ball through the end zone for a touchback. SO, he lines up a little further back so that they can punt the ball within the 5. (Only seen it done in college ball so far.)
Hopefully that can satisfactorily answer your question
I still think seven yards is the standard position for a place kick holder in American football. Again the difference can be explained by the way yardlines are measured.
High school kids are 7 yards back. I also haven’t noticed any marked change in the frequency of blocked kicks
It’s fairly easy. You don’t even calculate from the line of scrimmage in the first place, you calculate from where the holder is because that will be where the ball will be kicked from. It doesn’t matter if the line of scrimmage is the 20 if the holder is kneeling at the 30. You’ll just add 30 and 10 and get a 40 yard field goal. Depending on the coach’s confidence in the blocking the rush the holder will set up either 7 or 8 yards behind the line of scrimmage, and I have seen it further behind.
No, in the NFL anyway, 8 yards from scrimmage seems to have become standard in recent years. That may be simple blocked-kick insurance, in response to the increased number of fast and strong rushers in the steroid era. One yard makes a lot of difference there, and has little effect on most kicks.
Not only are the defenders coming from around the ends faster, but those coming from over the middle are taller as well. The extra foot gives the ball that much more room to rise above them. While it may be of lesser consequence for extra points and chip shots, for longer field goals where a lower trajectory is required in order to maximize distance it can spell the difference between 3 points and a blocked kick.