Let’s say you try on a third down and miss. Can you try again? My husband says yes but I don’t think so because, if you could, you’d see that all the time.
Absolutely not.
ETA: on a failed field goal, possession goes automatically to the defense.
I have convinced my husband of his folly. He thought the team changed possession because of the offensive team ran out of downs but the rules state a missed field goal at the twenty is like a punt and beyond the twenty at the spot of the kick, no matter what down.
I explained it better to him than I did here.
The reason teams will sometimes kick on third down is in case something goes wrong with the snap. They can still fall on the ball and, assuming the loss of field position isn’t too bad, try to kick again on fourth down.
In the NFL, if a field goal try or punt is blocked and recovered behind the line of scrimmage by the kicking team they retain possession. They can advance the ball for a first down or if third down retain possession. Here is the relevant NFL rule (from 2011 but I assume it’s the same):
Section 3 Catch or Recovery of a Scrimmage Kick
KICKERS CATCH OR RECOVER BEHIND LINE
Article 1 When a scrimmage kick [a punt, place kick, or drop kick] is caught or recovered by the kicking team behind the line of scrimmage, the kicking team may advance, even if the ball has crossed the line and returned behind the line (see 3-27-2, S.N. 2).
Item 1: Same Series of Downs. If the ball has returned behind the line untouched by the receiving team beyond the line, and the kicking team catches or recovers the ball, the existing series of downs continues unless the kicking team advances the ball to the line to gain, in which case there is a new series of downs.
Of course the caveat in the OP is this:
*emphasis added
Up until the evidence presented, I would have sided with your husband.
In case your husband ever finds himself in this situation, never touch a blocked field goal: - YouTube.
Paraphrasing Jimmy Carter: The depends on what the meaning of “miss” is.
If that were the case teams needing three points would just try a field goal on 1st down and keep trying till they made it or ran out of downs.
And by Jimmy Carter you mean William Jefferson Clinton. :dubious:
I haven’t watched every NFL game, but I’ve never heard a blocked or muffed field field goal referred to as a miss. A botch; a muff; a failure, but not a miss. A missed opportunity maybe, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what the OP meant.
And of course if the FG kicker gets iced by the opposing coach, he gets to try again.
I’m a reasonable man, MacArthur, so I know this isn’t snow.
If they never actually kick it, as in the holder fumbles the ball, then they get another shot. Late in the game when all they need is the FG to win, they’ll often kick on 3rd not 4th down for that reason.
The other day when the Florida Gators destroyed South Carolina’s Gamecocks, Florida blocked a SC field goal attempt (a Cock block, to use the parlance of our times). Later during the game, an on-screen graphic showed that SC’s kicker made a field goal from, say, 40 yards and missed the one from, say, 35 yards. Underneath where it said he missed, there was an explanatory note saying that the attempt was blocked.
In NFL stats, a blocked field goal counts as a miss for the kicker’s stats, and there will be a notation in the stats that the particular attempt was blocked (as opposed to being short or wide).
However, in the end, the “simple” stat that you’ll see for a kicker is % of field goals made, which includes blocks, but not “misses” in which the kicker never kicked the ball (botched snaps, botched holds, etc.)
I’ve never seen back-to-back field goal attempts, although as noted it is theoretically possible if the offense recovers a blocked kick behind the line of scrimmage on earlier than fourth down.
I have, however, seen back-to-back punts–in college, at least. Indiana once had Antwoine Randle El quick-kick on third and long. The kick was blocked, but Indiana recovered behind the line of scrimmage. This allowed Indiana to call a conventional punt on fourth down . . . which was also blocked.
D’oh, and how could I forget–Northern Iowa versus Iowa, September 5, 2009. Back to-back FG attempts after UNI recovered a block with one second left on the clock.
Right. I plead senility.