While many football beginners understand the field goal and that it is worth three points, the majority of you have probably never thought about the common term field goal range.
How does a coach decide whether to punt (kick the ball away) or to go for a field goal? How do you as a fan know how many yards the field goal is going to be?
You could wait until the announcer tells you how many yards or you can impress your friends and call out the yardage before the Joe Bucks of the world let you know.
To accomplish this amazing feet (pun intended) all you have to do is two things. Figure out what yard line the ball is on and add 12. For example: If the ball is on the 30 yard line of the opposing team you take 30 + 12 and you know that the offensive team will have a 42 yard field goal.
Why 12? Because that is the amount of yardage it takes to hike the ball and give the field goal kicker enough room to kick without getting the field goal blocked.
A few final points, remember if the ball is on the 30 yard line of the Defensive Team the rule of 12 is not going to work, that would be about an 82 yard field goal and that’s not going to happen until we get someone with a bionic leg. Instead of a field goal the Coach is going to opt to punt the ball away.
The longest field goal in the NFL is 64 yards and these are professionals at the top of their game. So when you are watching your son or daughter play you can expect that the Coach is not going to go for anything beyond 30 to 40 yards.
The rule of 12; Figure out the yard line and add twelve and you will be sure to impress your friends with your football field goal knowledge!
by Stacey Atkinson