Field goal

As a field goal is worth only three points, while a touchdown scores at least six (which usually becomes seven with a successful conversion, and potentially eight with a two-point conversion), teams will generally attempt a field goal only in the following situations:

• It is last down (fourth in American football, third down in Canadian rules), especially if the offense is more than a yard or two from a new first down, and within kicking range of the goal posts (about 45 yards at the professional level).
• In the first half, there is enough time remaining to execute only one more play.
• In the second half, there is enough time remaining to execute only one more play, and the team on offense needs three points to win or tie (four points in a few leagues given special circumstances).

Except in desperate situations, a team will generally attempt field goals only when keeping a drive alive is unlikely, and its kicker has a significant chance of success, as a missed field goal results in a turnover at the spot of the kick (in the NFL) or at the line of scrimmage (in the NCAA). In American high school rules and Canadian football, where a missed field goal is treated the same as a punt, most teams still opt not to attempt field goals from very long range since field goal formations are not conducive to covering kick returns. Even under ideal conditions, the best professional kickers historically had difficulty making kicks longer than 50 yards consistently.[2] If a team chooses not to attempt a field goal on their last down, they can punt to the other team. A punt cannot score any points in American football unless the receiving team touches the ball first and the kicking team recovers it (though it can result in a single in Canadian football), but it may push the other team back toward its own end.

The longest field goal kick in NFL history is 64 yards, a record set by Matt Prater on December 8, 2013. The previous record was 63, originally set by Tom Dempsey (1970) and then matched by Jason Elam (1998), Sebastian Janikowski (2011), David Akers (2012), Graham Gano (2018), and Brett Maher (2019).[3] The record in the CFL is 62 yards, set by Paul McCallum on October 27, 2001.[4] High school, college and most professional football leagues offer only a three-point field goal; however, some professional leagues have encouraged more rare kicks through four-point field goals. NFL Europe encouraged long field goals of 50 yards or more by making those worth four points instead of three (much like Australian rules' Super Goal or basketball's three-point line), a rule since adopted by the Stars Football League. Similarly, the sport of arena football sought (unsuccessfully) to repopularize the drop kick by making that worth four points; it failed, since only one kicker (Brian Mitchell) was able to do it with any semblance of proficiency. (In six-man football, all field goals are worth four points instead of the usual three.)

The overall field goal percentage during the 2010 NFL season was 82.3%. In comparison, Jan Stenerud, one of only three pure kickers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (along with fellow placekicker Morten Andersen and punter Ray Guy), had a career field goal percentage of 66.8% from 1967 to 1985.[2]

When a team decides to attempt a field goal, it will generally line up in a very tight formation, with all but two players lined up along or near the line of scrimmage: the placekicker and the holder. The holder is usually the team's punter or backup quarterback. Instead of the regular center, a team may have a dedicated long snapper trained especially to snap the ball on placekick attempts and punts.

The holder usually lines up seven to eight yards behind the line of scrimmage, with the kicker a few yards behind him. Upon receiving the snap, the holder holds the ball against the ground vertically, with the stitches away from the kicker. The kicker begins his approach during the snap, so the snapper and holder have little margin for error. A split-second mistake can disrupt the entire attempt. Depending on the level of play, the ball, upon reaching the holder, is held up by either the aid of a small rubber "tee" (all ranks up to the high school level, which is not the same as the kickoff tee, but rather a small platform, and comes in either 1 or 2 inch varieties) or is held up by the ground (in college and at the professional level).

Texas A&M attempts a field goal against The Citadel in 2006

The measurement of a field goal's distance is from the goalpost to the point where the ball was positioned for the kick by the holder. In American football, where the goalpost is located at the back of the end zone (above the end line), the ten yards of the end zone are added to the yard line distance at the spot of the hold.

Until the 1960s, placekickers approached the ball straight on, with the toe making first contact with the ball. The technique of kicking the ball "soccer-style", by approaching the ball at an angle and kicking it with the instep, was introduced by Hungarian-born kicker Pete Gogolak in the 1960s.[5] Reflecting his roots in European soccer, Gogolak observed that kicking the ball at an angle could cover more distance than kicking straight-on; he played college football at Cornell and made his pro debut in 1964 with the Buffalo Bills of the AFL; his younger brother Charlie was also an NFL kicker. The soccer-style kick gained popularity and was nearly universal by the late 1970s; the last straight-on kicker in the NFL was Mark Moseley, who retired in 1986.

If there is any time left in the half, the method of resuming play after a successful field goal varies between leagues.

National Football League and most professional leagues

The scored-against team receives a kickoff.[6]

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The scored-against team receives a kickoff.[7]

National Federation of High Schools

The scored-against team can choose to either receive a kickoff or kick off themselves. (In practice, almost all choose to receive.)

Canadian Football League

The scored-against team may elect to either kick off, receive a kickoff, or scrimmage from their own 35-yard line. The option of scrimmaging from the 35-yard line, first instituted in 1975, was eliminated in 2009, but the change proved unpopular and was reinstated the following season.

Football Canada

The scored-against team may elect to either kick off, receive a kickoff, or scrimmage from their own 35-yard line. If they choose to receive, the scoring team kicks off from their own 45-yard line.[8]

A missed field goal is said to be "no good" if the kicked ball does not cross between the uprights and over the crossbar of the goal posts. If it misses to the side of the uprights, it may be called "wide left" or "wide right" as the case may be. A field goal attempt may be described as "short" if it does not have sufficient distance to go over the cross bar. Some commentators will only describe a field goal attempt as being short if it appears to have been aimed correctly while others will describe an attempt appearing to lack both accuracy and distance as being both wide and short.

If a field goal attempt is missed and does not go out of bounds, a defensive player may catch the ball and return it, like a punt or kickoff. Or a defensive player may pick up the ball on the bounce or while rolling before it stops rolling and is declared dead by a referee. This type of play usually occurs during an extremely long field goal attempt due to the distance the defense must travel to reach the returner. If there is a significant likelihood of a miss and the strategic game situation warrants it, the defense places a player downfield, in or near their end zone, to catch the ball. The risk in this is that the return man may be tackled deep in his own territory, at a considerably worse position than he could have gotten by letting the ball go dead (see below); furthermore, should the returner fumble the ball, the kicking team can recover it and gain a new set of downs (the advantage is that the kicking team is lined up very close together to stop kick blockers, and not spread across the field like a kickoff or punt team, and is therefore in poor position to defend the return). Thus, teams will usually return a kick only towards the end of a half (when the kick will be the final play) or in a particularly desperate situation.

If a ball caroms off one of the goal posts or the crossbar but lands in the field of play, the ball is considered dead and cannot be returned. (This is not the case in arena football, where large "rebound nets" surround the goal posts for the explicit purpose of keeping the ball in play.) However, if the ball continues into the goal after caroming, the score counts.

Situations where the defense does not return a missed field goal vary between leagues and levels of play:

National Football League

Missed field goals attempted from the defending team's 20-yard line or closer result in the defense taking possession at their 20-yard line. Missed field goals attempted from behind the 20-yard line result in the opposing team taking possession at the spot of the kick. (From 1974-1993, the opposing team would take possession at the line of scrimmage, unless the kick was attempted from inside the 20-yard line, in which case the opposing team would take possession at the 20-yard line. Prior to 1974, a missed field goal was treated the same as a punt, and the kicking team could down the ball in the field of play if it did not cross the goal line; if the unsuccessful attempt crossed the goal line, it was a touchback, unless the defense ran the ball out of the end zone, which did not become legal until 1971.)

NCAA

The opposing team takes possession at the line of scrimmage rather than at the spot of the kick. If the line of scrimmage is inside the 20-yard line, the opposing team takes possession at the 20.

High school

Under NFHS (high school) rules (except Texas, which plays largely by NCAA rules), a field goal attempt is no different from any other scrimmage kick (punt, drop kick). If the field goal attempt is no good and enters the end zone it is a touchback (NFHS rules do not allow a scrimmage kick or free kick to be advanced if it crosses the goal line). If the ball becomes dead on the field the defensive team will next put the ball in play from that point. If a field goal is blocked behind the line of scrimmage either team may pick it up and return it (see below).

Canadian football

If the defense does not return a missed field goal out of the end zone, or if a missed field goal attempt goes out the back of end zone, then the kicking team scores a single point. (A doink does not score a single.) This sometimes results in the team on defense stationing their punter behind the goal posts to punt the ball out of the end zone, in case of a missed field-goal attempt, to preserve a victory or tie. Also, a missed field goal may be played by any onside player on the kicking team, (onside players being the kicker and anyone behind him at the time of the kick). It is risky to have anyone positioned behind the kicker when the ball is being kicked since those player(s) would be unable to help prevent the defending players from blocking the kick; however, on occasion teams might intentionally miss a field goal in hope of recovering the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. Returning a missed field goal is much more likely in Canadian football than in American rules for a few reasons. First, since the goal posts are on the goal line in front of a 20-yard end zone (rather than at the back of a 10-yard end zone), a missed field goal is much less likely to go out of bounds while in the air. Also, not returning the ball out of the end zone results in the defense conceding a single point, which may be crucial in a close game. Moreover, the wider field of the Canadian game makes the average return longer (in terms of yardage). However, many Canadian football coaches judge that conceding a single and taking possession at the 35-yard line is preferable to returning a missed field goal and avoiding a single at the cost of poor field position.

The San Francisco 49ers block a field goal attempt by Philadelphia Eagles kicker David Akers on October 12, 2008, and return it for a touchdown.

The Fresno State Bulldogs block a Texas A&M field goal attempt.

Occasionally, the defense will succeed in blocking a field goal. If a blocked field goal is in or behind the neutral zone, it is treated like a fumble and can be advanced by either team. Beyond the neutral zone, a blocked kick is treated like a punt and can be advanced only by the defense, unless a defensive player fumbles the ball, after which an offensive player can advance it.

In the early days of football, kicking was highly emphasized. In 1883, the scoring system was devised, with field goals counting for five points, and touchdowns and conversions worth four apiece. In 1897, the touchdown was raised to five points while the conversion was lowered to one point. (In 1958, the NCAA created the two-point conversion for conversions scored via run or pass; the NFL followed suit in 1994.) Field goals were devalued to four points in 1904, and then to the modern three points in 1909. The touchdown was changed to six points in 1912 in American football; the Canadian game followed suit in 1956.

The spot of the conversion has also changed through the years. In 1924, NCAA rules spotted the conversion at the 3-yard line, before moving it back to the 5-yard line in 1925. In 1929, the spot was moved up to the 2-yard line, matching the NFL. In 1968, the NCAA diverged from the NFL rules in moving the spot back to the original 3-yard line. Canadian rules originally spotted the conversion at the 5-yard line, which remains closer than in the American code (for kicked conversions) as the goalposts are at the front of the end zone.

In 2015, to make conversion kicks harder, the NFL and CFL moved the line of scrimmage for conversion kicks to the 15- and 25-yard lines, respectively. (The CFL also moved the spot for two-point conversion attempts to the 3-yard line, while then NFL remained at the 2-yard line.)

The goalposts were originally located on the goal line; this led to many injuries and sometimes interfered with play. The NCAA moved the goal posts to the rear of the end zone in 1927. The NFL (still following NCAA rules at the time) followed suit, but moved the posts back to the goal line starting in the 1932 NFL Playoff Game, a change made necessary by the size of the indoor Chicago Stadium and kept when the NFL rules stopped mirroring the NCAA rules in 1933. The NFL kept the goal posts at the goal line until 1974, when they were moved back to the rear of the end zone, where they have remained since. This was partly a result of the narrowed hashmark distance made in 1972, which had made for easier field-goal angles. The Canadian game still has posts on the goal line.

The width of the goalposts and the hashmarks have also varied throughout the years. In 1959, the NCAA goalposts were widened to 23 feet 4 inches (7.11 m), the standard width for high school posts today. In 1991, the college goalposts were reduced in width to 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m), matching the NFL. For the 1991 and 1992 seasons, this meant potentially severe angles for short field goal attempts, since the hashmark width remained at 53 ft 4 in (16.26 m). In 1993, the NCAA narrowed the distance between the hashmarks to 40 ft (12.19 m), matching what was the width of hashmarks in the NFL from 1945 through 1971; the NFL narrowed the hashmarks in 1972 to goalpost width at 18.5 feet (5.64 m). In the CFL, the hashmarks are 51 feet (16 m), but the field is 195 feet (59 m) in width, 35 feet (11 m) wider than the American field.

The NFL increased the height of the uprights above the crossbar to 20 feet (6.10 m) in 1966 and 30 feet (9.14 m) in 1974. In 2014, they were raised five feet to 35 feet (10.67 m) after the adoption of a proposal by New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.[9]

The "slingshot" goalpost, with a single post curving to support the crossbar, was invented by Jim Trimble and Joel Rottman in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[10] The first were built by Alcan and displayed at Expo 67,[10][11] the World's fair in Montreal. The NFL had standardized the goalposts in 1966 and adopted the slingshot for the 1967 season;[10] the NCAA later adopted the same rule, but later allowed the use of "offset" goalposts, with two posts rather than one (which were the norm prior to the invention of the "slingshot" goalposts). The CFL was the first league to use the new goalposts; they made their debut in the 2nd game of the CFL's Eastern Conference final in 1966 (which was played at Montreal's Autostade as Landsdowne Park [now TD Place Stadium], the home of Ottawa Rough Riders, was undergoing renovations), and were used in the Grey Cup the next week at Vancouver's Empire Stadium. Three schools in Division I FBS currently use dual-support posts: Florida State, LSU, and Washington State. A special exemption was allowed by the NFL for the New Orleans Saints to use the offset goalposts during the 2005 season, when they used LSU's stadium for home games after Hurricane Katrina.

Goalposts at the professional level today are sometimes equipped with a camera mounted to the stanchion immediately behind the center of the crossbar. Since these cameras are both above and slightly behind the crossbar, a field goal attempt will be judged good if it strikes this equipment.

The usage of small, rubberized "tees" for field goals (not the same as the kickoff tee, but rather a small plastic block; such tees come in heights of 1 or 2 in [25 or 51 mm]) varies depending on the level of play. Unlike in the lower ranks of football up to the high school level, the NFL (and most other professional leagues) has never allowed the use of small rubber tees for field goal attempts, having always required kickers to kick off the ground for such attempts (and for extra points).[12] In 1948, the NCAA authorized the use of a small rubberized kicking tee for field goals and extra points, but banned them by 1989, requiring kicks from the ground like in the NFL.[13][14] The Canadian Football League, despite its status as a professional league, does allow for the use of such a tee for field goals and convert kicks, but it is optional, as kickers can also kick off the ground if they so desire.[15]

During the 2011 NFL season, a record 90 field goals of 50 yards or longer were made.[16] In 2012, this record was increased to 92 field goals of 50 yards or longer.[16]

According to the Guinness World Records, the longest recorded field goal successfully kicked at any level was 69 yards. It was kicked by Ove Johansson of the Abilene Christian University Wildcats in the 1976 game against East Texas State University Lions (now Texas A&M University–Commerce) in Shotwell Stadium, Abilene, Texas.

• Official NFL Field Goal Records