# Kind of a silly football question **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 23, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kind-of-a-silly-football-question/677040 "2013-12-23T21:30:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kind-of-a-silly-football-question/677040/1 "2013-12-23T21:30:15Z")
Is a field goal counted as valid if someone’s hand touches the ball after it has left the kicker’s foot? What if they never kicked it and just threw it? There’s a few scenario’s I’m imagining here that could happen, with my assumptions in parentheses: 1. Opposing team gets a hand on the ball after being kicked but it has momentum enough to sail through the goalposts (should be perfectly legal) 2. Own teammate somehow accidentally gets hit by the ball on the way through the goalposts (if its accidental, probably still legal) 3. The ball’s not going to reach the goalpost but someone from the kicker’s team jumps up and taps the ball through the goalpost like a basketball tip-in (???) 4. The kicker doesn’t even try to kick it, picks up the ball and throws it through the goalposts (???) 5. Kick gets blocked, ball is loose, but kicker’s team recovers it and somebody punts it through the goalposts with his feet or throws it (???) 6. Kick is way short, but is caught by his teammate in the endzone (2pt conversion) Can someone fill in the blanks and correct me if I’m wrong? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kind-of-a-silly-football-question/677040/2 "2013-12-23T21:38:35Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > 1. Opposing team gets a hand on the ball after being kicked but it has momentum enough to sail through the goalposts (should be perfectly legal) Yup. Happens occasionally. > [@YogSosoth](#): > > 1. Own teammate somehow accidentally gets hit by the ball on the way through the goalposts (if its accidental, probably still legal) I’m not sure. Hard to see how this would happen, given the trajectory of the ball. > [@YogSosoth](#): > > 1. The ball’s not going to reach the goalpost but someone from the kicker’s team jumps up and taps the ball through the goalpost like a basketball tip-in (???) Incredibly unlikely, as the kicked ball is going to be traveling far faster than anyone from the kicking team could run to that point. I have no idea if it’d be legal or not. > [@YogSosoth](#): > > 1. The kicker doesn’t even try to kick it, picks up the ball and throws it through the goalposts (???) Not legal at all. It has to be kicked. > [@YogSosoth](#): > > 1. Kick gets blocked, ball is loose, but kicker’s team recovers it and somebody punts it through the goalposts with his feet or throws it (???) Not legal, in either case (punted or thrown). After the initial kick, the ball can’t be legally kicked a second time (at least, not in American football). And, as noted above, a thrown ball can’t be a legal field goal. > [@YogSosoth](#): > > 1. Kick is way short, but is caught by his teammate in the endzone (2pt conversion) See above for why this is incredibly unlikely. I have no idea what the actual ruling would be, but I have a very hard time believing that the kicking team could score any points from it. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kind-of-a-silly-football-question/677040/3 "2013-12-23T21:46:46Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > 1. Kick is way short, but is caught by his teammate in the endzone (2pt conversion) From the rulebook: > [@](#): > > The kicking team may never advance its own kick even though legal recovery is made beyond the line of scrimmage. Possession only. So it wouldn’t be a score. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kind-of-a-silly-football-question/677040/4 "2013-12-23T21:59:17Z")
Here’s the NFL rulebook on [kicks from scrimmage](http://static.nfl.com/static/content/public/image/rulebook/pdfs/12_2013_Scrimmage_Kick.pdf). > [@](#): > > 1. The ball’s not going to reach the goalpost but someone from the kicker’s team jumps up and taps the ball through the goalpost like a basketball tip-in (???) This would be a dead ball at the spot of the touch, per Section 2, Article 2 from my link. > [@](#): > > 1. The kicker doesn’t even try to kick it, picks up the ball and throws it through the goalposts (???) Nope. That’d just be a pass, and would be an incomplete. > [@](#): > > 1. Kick gets blocked, ball is loose, but kicker’s team recovers it and somebody punts it through the goalposts with his feet or throws it (???) It’d have to be a dropkick for it to count as a field goal - but only behind the line of scrimmage. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kind-of-a-silly-football-question/677040/5 "2013-12-24T00:06:54Z")
In the CFL you can try kicking it again (dropkick style) IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kind-of-a-silly-football-question/677040/6 "2013-12-24T01:47:01Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > 1. Own teammate somehow accidentally gets hit by the ball on the way through the goalposts (if its accidental, probably still legal) I’m not sure about the NFL, but in the NCAA, it wouldn’t count, according to rule 8-4-1a: “A field goal shall be scored for the kicking team if a drop kick or place kick passes over the crossbar between the uprights of the receiving team’s goal _ **before it touches a player of the kicking team** _ or the ground.” I would assume the NFL rule is the same.