# Successful Fair Catch Free Kick Field Goal **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** football-nfl\ **Created:** [December 20, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928 "2024-12-20T15:54:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**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 20, 2024, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/21 "2024-12-20T17:31:57Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Not by NFL rules, for whatever reason. They define free kicks separately. Fair point; I think that a “free kick” technically can’t be a possible field goal for the kicking team, and a free kick can either be a placement (with no tee) or a punt. They’re otherwise used only after safeties. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/22 "2024-12-20T17:32:11Z")
Yeah, just never eliminated. Used so rarely, successful for Field Goals even more rarely, it isn’t up on the priority list of changes. I always considered the On Side kick, now largely diminished to be the weirdest rule in football. It allows a team that scored to maintain possession with a kickoff. Offhand I don’t of any similar rule in sports. ---
**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 20, 2024, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/23 "2024-12-20T17:33:51Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I always considered the On Side kick, now largely diminished to be the weirdest rule in football. It allows a team that scored to maintain possession with a kickoff. Technically, _all_ kickoffs can be legally recovered by the kicking team if the receiving team doesn’t catch the ball first. One will, very occasionally, see a kickoff which the returner doesn’t pick up, for whatever reason (brain lock, most likely), and a member of the cover team pounces on it. It just so happens that the “onside kick” rules set out that the kicking team can only recover it after it’s traveled 10 yards or more. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/24 "2024-12-20T17:34:06Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Fair point; I think that a “free kick” technically can’t be a possible field goal for the kicking team, and a free kick can either be a placement (with no tee) or a punt. They’re otherwise used only after safeties. Don’t understand their use after a Safety either. Why not just a regular kickoff? Could a Free Kick be an Onside Kick (before most onside kicks were recently ruled out)? > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It just so happens that the “onside kick” rules set out that the kicking team can only recover it after it’s traveled 10 yards or more. Or is touched by the receiving team as happened recently. ---
**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 20, 2024, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/25 "2024-12-20T17:35:27Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Could a Free Kick be an Onside Kick (before most onside kicks were recently ruled out)? I believe so, but you make a such a free kick from your own 20, so if you fail, the other team has the ball deep in your own territory. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/26 "2024-12-20T17:40:07Z")
Right. Would be a desperation move with little or no time left. Even now a Field Goal attempt from the 20 yard line won’t help. The Pats used a deliberate Safety one time with clock running out. No Onside Kick attempt I think, but with time running out they needed to move the ball into opponents territory and try to get it back before time ran out. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/27 "2024-12-20T17:50:05Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Could a Free Kick be an Onside Kick (before most onside kicks were recently ruled out)? > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I believe so, but you make a such a free kick from your own 20 Correct. In fact, the Bears attempted just such a kick in a game against the Cardinals back on November 3 of this year. It was an interesting attempt, in that the kicker was actually the punter, and he punted it high in the air, but only about 16 yards downfield. The Arizona kick returner called for and executed a fair catch. In fact, the entire team called for a fair catch. Video is embedded in this post. > **[Trysta Krick (@trysta\_krick) on Threads](https://www.threads.net/@trysta_krick/post/DB88YRaRjIQ?hl=en)** > > Here’s something I’ve never seen before … the entire Cardinals team calling fair catch at the same time to negate an onside kick. > > Is this legal? 👩‍⚖️ > > NFLThreads #NFL #football ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/28 "2024-12-20T17:53:06Z")
Okay, I know what a field goal is. It’s where the kicker kicks the ball over and between the goalposts. I _think_ I know what a fair catch is. It’s when the player who’s going to catch a punted ball signals that he isn’t going to try to return it for a touchdown or extra yardage, so they better not tackle him. I’ve only heard of free kicks in soccer. Educate me on how all three of these things can happen on the same play, please. And how the soccer thing can happen in American football. TIA ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/29 "2024-12-20T17:55:24Z")
Not same play. 2 plays. ---
**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 20, 2024, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/30 "2024-12-20T17:56:57Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Educate me on how all three of these things can happen on the same play, please. There’s a bit of a terminology issue here – as I was just schooled on upthread, the play last night was not technically a free kick. It’s a “fair catch kick.” And, as @velocity noted while I was writing, it was two consecutive plays. The rules allow for a team to attempt a field goal on the play immediately after a fair catch has been made; it is not executed as a normal field goal attempt (with a snap from center, and a rush by the defense to attempt to block it) – it looks more like a kickoff in practice, though the ball has to be held on the ground, by a holder, without a tee, and the defense can be no closer than 10 yards away from the point where the ball is kicked during the attempt. The fair catch kick is an obscure bit of the NFL rules, and occurs extremely rarely, as I noted upthread. It’s really only ever attempted at the end of a half, and it’s only even been attempted six times in the past 20 years. In American football, “free kicks” are also a thing, but about the only time you ever see them is after a team has given up a safety, and has to kick the ball back to the other team. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/31 "2024-12-20T17:58:47Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Not same play. 2 plays. I presume 2 stadiums as well, if football things and soccer things are both happening. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/32 "2024-12-20T18:43:59Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > if football things and soccer things are both happening. I’d pay to see that ---
**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 20, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/33 "2024-12-20T19:03:38Z")
I’ll note the f.c. kick cannot happen at the NCAA level, but it is still on the books for high school. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/34 "2024-12-20T21:24:50Z")
How do you feel about Ice Hockey and Football? > **[Ice football is the thing you never knew you needed in the offseason 😭😭...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po0LQBRWJKo%2F)** ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/35 "2024-12-20T21:43:46Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > This one originates from the early days when the evolution of the game had it closer to rugby (where similar kicks are more frequent). Ironically, rugby has gotten rid of the “kick from mark” from which the fair catch kick derives. You’ll see a similar rule used fairly often in Aussie football. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928.md?page=1)