# Successful Fair Catch Free Kick Field Goal

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928>\
**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:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**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, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-fair-catch-free-kick-field-goal/1011928/2 "2024-12-20T16:00:18Z")

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> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> 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](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-2024-25-week-16/1011755/40), as well. It’s a really rare play because it requires the convergence of:

- A fair catch on a punt having been made at a place on the field that’s not out of range for a field goal (which is, in and of itself, not particularly common), or there being a penalty against the punting team on the punt play which moves the ball close enough.
- It happening at the very end of a half (most likely, the end of the first half) – if the receiving team gets the ball with substantial time still on the clock, the offense will be trying to move the ball downfield, rather than trying a low-percentage field goal.

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.

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