Field goal range
Field goal range is the part of the field in
A field goal is normally 17 yards (7 yards in Canadian football) longer than the distance of the
From 1932 to 1974 the field goal in the NFL was located at the goal line, similar to Canadian football, so only 7 yards was added to the distance from the line of scrimmage.
Average field goal range
The exact field goal range varies for each team, depending on the ability of the team's
In high school football, players are permitted to kick off special flat kicking tees up to two inches high. The NCAA banned the use of kicking tees in 1989. Most of the longer-range field goals in NCAA history were kicked prior to the elimination of tees; the use of tees allowed the ball to be elevated out of the field's grass or turf, reducing friction in the opening milliseconds of the kick and allowing for longer kicks.
Kicking versus punting
If a kicker is outside of field goal range, teams will generally
Record holders
The longest field goal in recorded football history was 69 yards, set by collegiate kicker
The CFL record is 62 yards held by
NFL Europe rewarded kickers that successfully kicked a field goal of longer than 50 yards with a bonus point, making such field goals worth 4 points instead of 3; this rule has since been adopted by the Stars Football League.
The shortest possible field goal under current strategies is slightly over 17 yards in American football and 8 yards in Canadian football (Canadian football requires the ball to be snapped at least one yard away from the end zone). Theoretically, a field goal could be attempted from a shorter distance as long as the holder stays behind the line of scrimmage (or via a drop kick at any point on the field), but in practice this has never happened.
Drop kicks
It has been surmised that a drop kick has a slightly longer range than the standard place kick, but since these kicks are so rare, that is not known for sure. During the early NFL era, this was generally true, and drop kicks were the norm for longer field goals; in fact, the first unofficial NFL record kick of 55 yards, set by Paddy Driscoll in 1924, was indeed set by drop kick. The football was shaped differently in that era, being changed to its modern, more narrow shape in 1935, so it is not reasonable to compare field goals from that era with the modern era, any more than it is reasonable to compare a kick with a rugby ball with an American football today. Further complicating any comparisons is that statistics reporting during the era of the round-ended ball was inconsistent and lacked any central authority or standardization; newspapers reported Driscoll's field goal as variously being 50, 52 or 55 yards, and are also inconsistent as to whether the kick was by drop kick or place kick. Driscoll also kicked a reported 50-yard drop kick in 1925 (newspaper reports were again inconsistent) and is the only known example of a kicker to have done so from that distance.[5]
The only successful drop kick in the NFL since the
References
- ISBN 9781118051603. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
- ISBN 9780028641676. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
- ^ "35 years later, no kicker has topped 69-yarder by ACU's Johansson". Archived from the original on 2015-11-26. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- ^ "64-yard field goal by Jake Bates delivers 18–16 win for Michigan Panthers over St. Louis Battlehawks". NBC Sports. 2024-03-30. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
- ^ "The Coffin Corner : Vol. No. 7 (1979) – A Closer Look: 50-yd DKs" (PDF). Profootballresearchers.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2013-10-02.