Last night Cameron Dicker made the first successful Fair Catch Free Kick field goal for the Chargers since 1976, and the longest distance in history surpassing one by Paul Hornung kicked in 1962.
I was thinking the other day this might happen soon with the distances kickers are getting these days. The announcers, some players, and apparently even the Broncos coach were unaware of this rarely used rule.
The kick is being discussed in the NFL Week 16 thread, as well. It’s a really rare play because it requires the convergence of:
And, as noted in the other thread, because the kicker can run up to the ball on a free kick (like on a kickoff), giving them more momentum than on a regular field goal, it, too, lends itself to longer kicks, as does the fact that kickers in recent years have demonstrated the ability to make longer field goals, as you note.
And this time there was also a Fair Catch Interference call. Not entirely unusual except for the location.
I didn’t pick up the penalty details from the announcers, were there additional yards assessed for the penalty, or was it necessary for the Chargers to decline the penalty to get a kick with the clock at 0:00?
Checking the play-by-play notes on ESPN, yes, there was a 15-yard penalty for the fair catch interference, which moved the spot of the ball from the Chargers’ 38 yard line to the Broncos’ 47. I think that the rules stipulate that the half can’t end on a penalty against the defense, so the Chargers were able to run one more untimed play, even though the clock had run out during the punt.
Yes, 15 yards. Without this penalty, there would have no field-goal attempt.
Edit: ninja’d by @kenobi_65
Maybe there would. Can’t say for sure, but that kick was down the middle with plenty of height and would have succeeded from further back, not necessarily 15 yards back though. Also it might not have been attempted since the traditional approach is to throw a Hail Mary and we saw a successful one of those earlier this year.
Once kicked, is it a live ball? Meaning, can the opposing team put someone at the goal line, and if the kick falls short, attempt a runback?
I believe so, yes - it’s the same as any field goal attempt.
I believe the rule allows said final untimed kick as well even if the clock shows 0:00.
I have a question: why does this rule exist?
It gives the kicker an easy job–no defensive players are going to bother him, and he gets plenty of room to run at the ball to gain extra speed and power on the kick.
While the poor defense is left with few tools to use.
It seems kind of unfair.
Am I missing something?
It’s a weird corner case, as I noted, and I’d guess that it’s probably an old artifact of earlier rules. It nearly never occurs – it’s only even been attempted six times in the past twenty years, and it’s only been successful twice in the past 50 years.
I’m guessing it may be to discourage teams from playing timid or too conservative. If they know that punting from near their own end zone could lead to freebie points for the opposing team, they will be forced to play more aggressively, even if pinned down deep, when near the end of a half. Conversely, it gives a defense strong incentive to pin down the opposing offense deep near the end of a half. It also punishes bad punting. Imagine a Super Bowl scenario, for instance, where the Lions are pinned down deep with three seconds left in regulation but know that if they punt to the Bills, the Bills might be able to fair catch and then kick some 58-yard field goal to win the game as time expires.
In theory, that is. In practice, as Kenobi65 pointed out, such free-kick field goal attempts almost never happen anyway.
Yes. By NFL rules, it’s a live ball. If the ball falls short and within the field of play, a defender can catch it and return it.
Why wouldn’t they? They are positioned differently but they can still attempt to defend the attempt.
Clearly, yes, since it’s rarely attempted and even more rarely successfully executed.
The relevant part - this occurs after a fair catch. It is exceedingly rare for a team to punt or kickoff a ball so short that the attempt would be within 70 yards, much less within 60 yards.
And if the attempt fails, the other team gets the ball from where you failed the attempt, giving them an incredibly short field.
So, it is attempted most often at the end of a half (so the other team has no time) and following a penalty so that the yardage is added to the fair catch.
If a team tried to use this ‘unfair’ advantage otherwise, they would effectively be giving their opponents the ball on a short field every time they tried it.
As for why the rule exists? Why not? Lots of rules in sports exist for historic reasons but don’t make sense now. This one originates from the early days when the evolution of the game had it closer to rugby (where similar kicks are more frequent). It’s rarely enough invoked that there’s no real point in getting rid of it.
It’s also a reason why the safety is 2 points. Instead of kicking a crappy punt that could result in 3, take a 2 point safety and get to kick a much better punt to hand possession back in better field position.
How are they going to block it if they are 10 yards from the ball and can’t move until it’s kicked?
I didn’t write ‘block’, I wrote ‘defend’
They can still defend the attempt. It’s not a free kick.
To wit, it’s literally from the original NFL rules.
Exactly so. If Dicker had missed last night, and there’d been any time left on the clock, the Broncos would have taken possession just short of midfield (their own 47) – that’s great field position.
If you look at the list of fair catch free kick attempts, most of them in the past 50 years have been from 60 yards or longer – in other words, at midfield, or inside of the kicking team’s own end of the field. That’s a spot that you do not want to give the ball back to your opponent, as you’re giving them great field position. And, thus, these kicks are really only tried at the end of the half.
It is, actually, technically a free kick. “Defending” such a kick essentially amounts to having your players in position to return a missed kick that lands in play; as the defenders have to set up no closer than ten yards away from the place of the the kick, blocking it is effectively impossible.
Not by NFL rules, for whatever reason. They define free kicks separately.
Now I don’t know why, but that’s just how they roll in the No Fun League.
ETA: NFL Rule 3, Section 17, Articles 4 and 5, respectively. NFL Rulebook | NFL Football Operations