Drop Kick rule from Longest Yard

[KingCon]

I was watching the orginal LONGEST YARD movie and there was a scene where a player kicked a drop kick and Burt Reynolds says its legal and worth 2 points.

Questions-
1) Explain the drop kick to me
2) Is it still legal int he NFL
3) If number 2 is no, when did the NFL stop allowing it

[Keats13]

[ QUOTE ]
Questions-
1) Explain the drop kick to me
2) Is it still legal int he NFL
3) If number 2 is no, when did the NFL stop allowing it

[/ QUOTE ]

1. A player drops the ball and kicks it AFTER it has hit the ground. If it travels through the uprights, it is a field goal worth 3 points.
2. Yes
3. See 2.
4. This belongs in the Sports forum

Edited to add: The Dropkick (http://www.profootballhof.com/history/release.jsp?release_id=1481)

[Edge34]

[ QUOTE ]
I was watching the orginal LONGEST YARD movie and there was a scene where a player kicked a drop kick and Burt Reynolds says its legal and worth 2 points.

Questions-
1) Explain the drop kick to me
2) Is it still legal int he NFL
3) If number 2 is no, when did the NFL stop allowing it

[/ QUOTE ]

1) The drop-kick involves a long snap to the kicker, who drops the ball and kicks it off the ground. Basically the one-man "place kick".

2) Yeah, its still legal. Just nobody does it anymore because of a few reasons:

Its damned hard to do well.
There's a lot of very good placekickers out there.

[KingCon]

When was the last time the drop kick was attempted?

[PoBoy321]

I didn't even realize that it was a legal move in football, but it's fairly common in rugby.

[jedi]

I didn't think it was worth 2 points, but it's still legal.

Edit: And Keats has explained it way better than me.

[StevieG]

[ QUOTE ]
When was the last time the drop kick was attempted?

[/ QUOTE ]

NFL hall of fame info on dropkicks (http://www.profootballhof.com/history/release.jsp?release_id=1481)

[ QUOTE ]
Ray McLean of the Chicago Bears was the last player to successfully drop kick in the NFL. He converted an extra point following Ken Kavanaugh's 42-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown during the Bears' 37-9 win over the New York Giants in the 1941 NFL Championship Game. The drop kick came in the fourth quarter of the title game played on December 21, 1941.

Hall of Famer Earl "Dutch" Clark is believed to be the last player to successfully dropkick a field goal in the NFL. According to game accounts, he dropkicked a 17-yard field goal in the Detroit Lions 16-7 victory over the Chicago Cardinals on September 19, 1937.

[/ QUOTE ]

So in other words, a long long time since a dropkick has been seen in the NFL.

I'm pretty sure in the movie that Reynolds correctly says the play is worth three points.

[HopeydaFish]

In the Canadian Football League, something similar is attempted every once in awhile (like once a season or so). The reason being that, in the CFL, if you kick the ball through the endzone (without going through the uprights), it counts for 1 point. You don't need to drop-kick the ball to score the one point, though, a player can punt it out of the air and through the endzone.

I saw a player try this a couple of years ago when the score was tied late in the game and he was about to run into a wall of defenders. He tried to kick it through the endzone from about twenty yards out before getting tackled. He managed to get the kick off, but it didn't have enough oomph to make it through the endzone.

[jstnrgrs]

[ QUOTE ]
I didn't even realize that it was a legal move in football, but it's fairly common in rugby.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's much easier with a rugby ball.

[jstnrgrs]

I think that when the 2-point conversion was first allowed it was sugested that a passing play could be designed to attempt to get two points, but if no open received could be found, the quarterback could dropkick for the one point. It would be legal, but I don't think it has ever been attempted.

[verg]

I saw one on espn a few years back. It was college football though.

[Toro]

[ QUOTE ]
When was the last time the drop kick was attempted?

[/ QUOTE ]

1964 in Hallen's Field, North Grafton, Massachusetts

[masse75]

Back when he was still in the league, NFL films did a piece on Jim McMahon, the Chicago QB. One of his quirky talents was that he could nail the shite out of the football via dropkick. Saw him kick something like a 50 yarder.