Terry Mitchell

The Full Impact of a Missed Field Goal



Posted: Wednesday, September 16, 2009

by Terry Mitchell
http://commenterry.blogs.com

When a football team misses a field goal early in a game, the consequences of such a miscue will often be felt later in that game. Sports announcers will generally remind viewers about it in the fourth quarter when that team is behind by three points or fewer. However, one missed field could also have devastating consequences for a team that is trailing by as many as six points.

A team that is on the short end of the score by four to six points in the waning minutes or seconds of a game needs a touchdown. A field goal obviously does them no good. Of course, a touchdown in that situation is much more difficult to get because it requires advancing the ball an additional 30-45 yards. Now, let's assume that this team had made a field goal that they had missed earlier. In that case, they would only need a field goal, not a touchdown, to tie or win the game. Their chances for late-game success would be greatly increased, often making the difference between winning and losing.

Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, amateur political analyst, and blogger from Virginia, USA. He posts a least one article a day to his blog - http://commenterry.blogs.com - on subjects such as current events, politics, technology, society and culture, religion, health and well-being, self improvement, personal finance, trivia, and sports. He is also the owner of a new privacy-enhanced search engine - http://www.SearchMost.com.

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Timothy P Wayne
 2 years 199 days ago.
2 fans.
This article was okay, but it could have been longer. One thing that could have been mentioned was a rule change that the NFL enacted a few years ago. Before when a field goal was missed, the team getting the ball would have it placed at the line of scrimmage for the kick. Now the ball is placed where the ball was kicked, giving the other team better field position. This rule change has affected coaching decisions on whether or not to try a long field goal unless it is at the end of a half or the end of a game. If the field goal is missed with only a few seconds left, then field position doesn't matter. This has also resulted in fewer long attempts for field goal kickers, thus raising their overall accuracy. Nate Kaeding, the 2nd most accurate kicker in NFL history is not known for his booming kicks. His longest was 57 yards last season against Tampa Bay... at the end of the first half.
» left by Terry Mitchell 2 years 198 days ago.
93 fans.
Timothy, I'm well aware of the rule you are referring to. I just didn't mention it because it is irrelevant to the point I was making.
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