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Kicking a field goal seems pretty straightforward: you just kick the ball as hard as you can between the goal posts at the back of the end zone. But if it were that easy, then kickers would almost never miss—and as any football fan knows, hooks, pushes, and shanks are all too common. Join physicist Tim Gay and semi-pro football kicker Hermes Lima as they explain all the factors that go into kicking a successful field goal.

Kicking a field goal is tough. But why? (Hint: It's physics.)

Kicking a field goal seems pretty straightforward: you just kick the ball as hard as you can between the goal posts at the back of the end zone. But if it were that easy, then kickers would almost never miss. Join physicist Tim Gay and semi-pro football kicker Hermes Lima as they explain all the factors that go into kicking a successful field goal.

Why Kicking a Field Goal is Harder Than it Looks

Kicking a field goal is tough. But why? (Hint: It's physics.)

Body & Brain

Why Kicking a Field Goal is Harder Than it LooksPublished: February 6, 2019Ana Aceves: Kicking a field goal in football seems pretty straightforward: you just kick the ball as hard as you can between the goal posts at the back of the end zone. But if it were that easy, then kickers would almost never miss. Just over 15% of NFL field goal attempts made during the 2018 regular season didn’t make it through the uprights. As any football fan knows, hooks, pushes, and shanks are all too common.I’ve asked physicist Tim Gay and semi-pro football kicker Hermes Lima to help me understand what goes into kicking a successful field goal.Hermes Lima: The snapper snaps the ball, kick the ball, I pray that it goes in, but if you’re a decent or good kicker you don’t have to pray at all.Tim Gay: There are essentially two important parameters that a field goal kicker needs to control. The first is the speed at which the ball leaves his foot. If you’re a long distance from the goal, then you have to kick the ball with a speed of about 80 mph. The longest successful field goal that’s ever been kicked in the NFL is 64 yards.Aceves: The farther the kicker is from the uprights, the more force they needs to transfer from their foot to the ball, sending it off with greater velocity.Gay: The second issue is the aim. The aiming or aligning of the kick is crucial and for a long field goal kick, the angular window that the kicker has is about 6% for a 65-yard field goal.Aceves: That’s what needs to happen to the ball from a physics point of view. But how does that transfer to a kicker’s process on the field?Lima: I take my three steps back, and I take my two steps to the left. Once the ball is snapped while I’m looking down, run over and just kick the ball and through to the goal post. Hopefully the line and the holders do their job because if they do, it makes my life easier as a kicker.Aceves: In a game, not only are there are large defensive players rushing in trying to block the kick, but there are other factors a kicker needs to take into account… like the weather conditions.Gay: Wind and temperature can affect the trajectory of the ball.Lima: If the wind is going to the right, you want to kick the ball more towards the left goalpost, which means that the ball is going to veer towards the right and hopefully into the middle.Gay: If the game is being played at -20 degrees Fahrenheit , the air tends to be denser, so the ball simply won’t go as far.Aceves: There’s also the issue of what physically happens to the ball in cold weather. Cold air inside the ball exerts less outward pressure.As the air pressure inside the football drops, it deflates a little…making gripping the ball easier, but harder to kick long distances. So, the kicker spends more energy deforming the ball and less giving it the velocity it needs to reach the uprights.Lima: When it’s cold outside, one, my foot is probably going to be a little numb from the cold and two, the ball is flatter and when you hit a flat ball, you don’t generate enough force.Aceves: So, what can a kicker to do improve?Gay: Unfortunately, the answer is predictable and simple; practice, practice, practice.Lima: My routine is just something that I just do on the regular. I follow it to a T. Even if you’re one step off, it’s going to throw you off, which means you’re not going to make the field goal.Aceves: It’s not uncommon for a game, even a big game like the Super Bowl, to come down to a field goal attempt. In that moment, all eyes are on the kicker…and as the ball arcs towards the uprights, science is the last thing on anyone’s mind.

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Why Kicking a Field Goal is Harder Than it Looks

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