NFL - FAIR CATCH KICK

The fair catch kick is a rule at the professional and high school levels of American football that allows a team that has just made a fair catch to attempt a free kick from the spot of the catch. The kick must be either a place kick or a drop kick, and if it passes over the crossbar and between the goalposts of the defensive team's goal, a field goal, worth three points, is scored to the offensive team.

The fair catch kick rule is very rarely invoked, and is one of the rarest plays in football. A unique set of circumstances is required for a fair catch kick to be a viable option.

·         The fair catch would need to be made at a point on the field where a field goal attempt has a reasonable chance of being successful; most fair catches are made well outside of field goal range.

·         For the fair catch to be a viable option, the game would need to be near the end of the game with too little time left to attempt to score a touchdown.

·         The team attempting the kick would need to be either tied or behind by three points or fewer.

Out of the 24 recorded* fair catch attempts in non-exhibition NFL games, only six were successful; all five known attempts in exhibition games were unsuccessful. With the exception of the second recorded attempt, which was made in the 3^rd quarter, all fair catch kick attempts were made within the last 30 seconds of either the 2^nd or 4^th quarter.

The last successful attempt was made in 1976 by Ray Wersching of the San Diego Chargers (45 yards) and the longest successful was made in 1964 by Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers (52 yards). The most recent fair catch kick attempt was by San Francisco-49ers kicker Phil Dawson, who missed a 71-yard attempt on September 26, 2013.

In September 2017, with 3 seconds left in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LI, the New England Patriots declined an opportunity to attempt a 75-yard fair catch kick, which would have won the game if successful, because of the risk of a return if the kick came up short.

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*Source: Wikipedia (the NFL does not keep a record of fair catch kick attempts)