So I guess you want the clock to stop after every tackle and not start again until the snap?
More time is wasted setting up for plays than in running them. I read somewhere that it’s actually around two-to-one setup time to play time. Of course, if we did it that way games would take a week to play.
I do like a rule where any play which loses yardage in the last 2 minutes stops the
clock until the next snap. Now you’ll actually have to do a few running plays/QB
sneaks and risk a fumble if you are ahead w/o any timeouts. And if the opposing
D actually throws you for a loss, they in effect get a free timeout.
Man that makes so much sense it is certain that the NFL will never implement it.
Talking of doing away with field goals, there was a lot of sour grapes from certain quarters when England defeated France in the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup with five penalties and three drop goals all by Jonny Wilkinson. There was much less noise being made by the Southern Hemisphere nations four years earlier when South Africa’s surprise selection Jannie de Beer kicked England out of the competition with five drop goals. It just goes to show… something or other.
Other differential scores in other codes of football include the “behind” in Australian Rules - they have four uprights at each end and a “goal” is anything that passes through the centre pair, a “behind” anything else that passes inside one of the outer uprights - and a point in Gaelic Football (and hurling) for anything over the crossbar (the goal is H-shaped and has a net below the bar, a “goal” is scored for anything in the net).
I wouldn’t have thought “soccer-style kickers” would have the attributes necessary for kicking a goal. It seems to me a completely different talent.
I know that some rugby players from the UK many years ago tried out for american football as place kickers (if that’s what they call them) because in rugby you usually have specialised kickers who take the attempts at goal.
They do, however, also take part in playing the game.
hmmm I like the fact that football has so many ways to get points on the board of different values. if I were to change the FG I would make it a bit more like basketball
under 30 yrds 1 point, 31-40 2 points, 41-50 3 points, and anything over a 50 yard line of scrimmage 4 points.
Prior to the mid-70’s, in American football, field goals and kick-offs were kicked by running straight on at the ball, and using the toes, rather than the instep. A specialized shoe was used, with a flat front built across the toes. This type of kick produced a high arc with a spinning ball, unless the kicker deliberately tried to kick higher on the ball, which was avoided for the most part, especially on field goals, because you want the kick to climb above the players on the line of scrimmage, trying to block it.
The difficulty with such kicks was the same as it is with a soccer ball kicked that way: you lose lateral accuracy. The chance of missing the effective “sweet spot” on the ball is fairly great. Thus, even though field goal posts were originally quite wide, you still missed often from any significant distance. And the high arc prevents the kicker from driving the ball a long distance, usually.
However, for a long time, the longest field goal ever kicked was 63 yards by Tom Dempsey, who kicked from straight on. Of course, he did have a slight advantage: he only had half a foot on his kicking leg, which allowed him to use a special shoe that had a larger flat spot on the front. See this picture.
In the late 60’s and early 70’s, two field goal kickers were recruited by AFL teams specifically because they were former soccer players who approached the ball from the side. One was Jan Stenerud, who kicked for the Kansas City Chiefs, the other was Garo Ypremian, who kicked for the Miami Dolphins (among others; the Lions actually found him first in 1966). They were known for their increased accuracy, especially at longer distances (40+ yards). They kicked the ball the same way a soccer player kicks an “instep drive” kick, which is how goal keepers kick goal kicks two-thirds the length of the field from off the ground. Within 10 years or so, almost all place-kickers were using that style. The last such field goal kicked came in 1987; the last full-time straight ahead kicker was Mark Mosely, who ended his career in 1986.
The style was introduced to American footaball, IIRC, by the Pete Gogolak in 1964. He kicked in an exhibition game for the Buffalo Bills, and nailed a 55+ yard field goal at the end of the game. He had learned soccer as a youth in Hungary. No one knew it at the time, but he was the start of a revolution in kicking.
I prefer the Area League rules where a team trying to run out the clock has to make positive yardage to keep the clock running. Simple and effective, the way rules should be.
They already have rules dictating throwaways/intentional grounding. There are countless passes that don’t touch anybody, would all of those become sacks?
But the clock is part of the game, I don’t see a reason to prevent teams from using the clock to their advantage if they are able to, and really unless you come up with silly rules of score reversal there will be no way to stop running out the clock in one form or another.
It still is the official record, as far as I know, unless you’re counting the preseason in which a 65-yarder was hit by Ola Kimrin.
Ironically, one of the sports you listed also has a three-point field goal. I’m not sure basketball belongs in the all-or-nothing class you’ve put it in.
There was the 65-yard preseason effort. The in-season record was tied by Jason Elam in 1998, so the Dempsey effort has been matched by a sidewinder. 
Yes, it’s still the record, although it was tied by Jason Elam. The Tampa Bay guy from a few weeks ago is next in line with that 62 yard kick.
Ola Kimrin? Why has a guy who can kick a 65 yarder not stuck with a team?
Let me get this straight. My team is behind by 4, there’s 50 seconds left, and we need 30 yards for a TD. The opposing Defensive Tackle makes an amazing play, sacks our QB, and is subsequently penalized for it.
Not seeing the part where it makes sense.