Field Goal (American and Canadian Football) - Missed Field Goals

Missed Field Goals

A missed field goal is said to be "no good". If it misses to the kicker's left it may be called "wide left" and conversely "wide right" if it misses to the kicker's right. It may also be described as being "short" if it is aimed correctly but does not have the distance to go over the cross bar and through the uprights.

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. This type of play usually occurs during an extremely long field goal attempt when, anticipating that the kicker will most likely miss, the defense lines up a player downfield in the end zone to catch the ball. The longest play ever in NFL history was a 109-yard missed field goal return by Antonio Cromartie of the San Diego Chargers on November 4, 2007, against the Minnesota Vikings.

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 caroms off one of the goal posts or the crossbar and continues into the goal, the score counts.

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

NFL

Missed field goals attempted from the 20-yard line or closer result in the opposing team taking possession at the 20-yard line. Missed field goals attempted from beyond the 20-yard line result in the opposing team taking possession at the spot of the kick. (Until 1994, the opposing team would take possession at the line of scrimmage, unless the kick was attempted from inside the 20-yard line. And prior to the 1974 season, missed field goals resulted in the opposing team gaining possession at the 20-yard line if the kick was not or could not be returned.)

NCAA

The opposing team takes possession at the line of scrimmage rather than at the spot of the kick.

High school

Under NFHS (high school) 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 becomes dead in the end zone it is a touchback. 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 until they are ruled down, out of bounds, or score a touchdown.

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 through the end zone, then the kicking team scores a single point. 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, that 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 endzone (rather than at the back of a 10-yard endzone), a missed field goal is much less likely to go out of bounds while in the air. Also, returning the ball out of the end zone allows the defense to avoid giving up a single point, which may be crucial in a tight game. Moreover, the wider field of the Canadian game makes the average return longer. However, many CFL coaches judge that conceding a single and taking possession at the 35-yard line to be a better gamble than returning a missed field goal and avoiding a single.