Onside kick
Encyclopedia
In American
and Canadian football
, an onside kick (sometimes onsides kick) is a type of kick
used at a kickoff
or other free kick, or scrimmage kick or other kick during play, in which the ball is kicked favorably for the kicking team to avoid giving away the ball. Other benefits of kicking may be sacrificed to that end in an onside kick.
, and so does the onside kick. In rugby, while the forward pass
is prohibited, a team in possession may legally kick the ball downfield and recapture possession, provided that the receiver of the kick was onside
when the kick was made (i.e., level with or behind the kicker.)
This form of onside kick is still legal in Canadian football, just as in rugby. A player of the kicking team (at any kick, not just a free kick) who is "onside" may recover the ball and retain possession for his team. This includes the kicker himself and anyone else behind the ball at the time it was kicked, other than the holder for a place kick. The form of onside kick available at a free kick in American football (see below) is also available in Canadian football for a kickoff as well; however, the kick may well be chipped high instead of bounced, because the players of the receiving team have no particular first right to the ball as in American football (due to the fair catch
rule); both sides may play the ball equally, even in the air.
In essence, an "onside kick" in American football is the same as any other kickoff or free kick, except that it is kicked in a particular way in order to give the kicking team the best chance of fielding the ball and retaining possession--typically in a diagonal direction and as close to the advancing players from the kicking team as possible. An alternative method is to kick the ball with a great deal of force directly at an opposing player. If the ball touches the player, but he cannot secure it, it becomes live regardless of whether it has traveled 10 yards.
Once the ball has hit the ground there is no chance of a catch and hence no possibility of interference. Thus the kicking team generally attempts to make the ball bounce early and be available around 10 yards in front of the spot of the kick. One technique, useful especially on a hard field such as one with an artificial surface, is to kick the ball in a way that it spins end-over-end very near the ground and makes a sudden bounce high in the air. The oblong shape of an American football can make it bounce off the ground and players in very unpredictable ways. This unpredictability has the additional benefit for the kicking team of increasing the probability that the receiving team will muff the kick. To counter this, when the receiving team expects an onside kick to be attempted, it will often substitute a "hands team" consisting of players skilled at catching or otherwise securing the ball.
Traditionally, the onside kick had its own formation, in which all ten players on the kicking side of the field would line up on one side (left or right) of the kicker, in an effort to get as many people as possible into one area of the field. This is still popular in high school football; however, the NCAA (and later the NFL) have since added a requirement that at least four players line up on each side of the kicker. To combat this, some teams (including the Buffalo Bills
, who pioneered this strategy) developed a "cluster formation" in which all of the players line up behind and immediately next to the kicker in what is effectively a moving huddle
. This, too, was eventually banned in the NFL rule books with a 2009 rule change that states that "the kicking team cannot have more than five players bunched together;" the rule change has been considered a gratuitous targeting of Bills special teams coach Bobby April
, as the ostensible reason for the ban (injury risk) had negligible evidence to support it.
An onside kick from a free kick is usually a desperation technique used for a kickoff by a team trailing in the score with little time left in the game, in order to gain another possession of the ball and to hopefully allow scoring again. The risk is that if the receiving team does get possession of the ball — as they usually do — they will have much better field position, meaning they will have less distance of the field that they need to move the ball in order to score. For this reason, this play is typically only attempted with very little time on the clock, when the field position advantage of the receiving team is not very important because they are already ahead and will simply focus on running the clock out and ending the game regardless of their initial field position.
Occasionally, football coaches will attempt surprise onside kicks in an effort to catch their opponent's players off guard, when they are less likely to have the putative "hands team" on the field. For instance, in Super Bowl XXX
, Pittsburgh Steelers
coach Bill Cowher
called an onside kick early in the fourth quarter when trailing 20-10 which was successfully recovered. More recently, in Super Bowl XLIV
, the New Orleans Saints
called an onside kick from kickoff formation at the start of the second half and successfully converted the possession into a touchdown.
Onside kicks are generally very risky and are not often successful. Overall, between 2003 and 2006, an onside kick in the NFL was successful about 20% of the time (41 times out of 206 attempts), though there is a wide discrepancy between surprise kicks and those that the hands team expects. Among anticipated onside kicks, between the 2005 and 2006 seasons, the onside kick was 10-for-86, less than 12%. This was before the league's rules changed to eliminate stacked formations, so that number has likely gone down even further. Surprise onside kicks, however, have had more success; in 2006, more than half of the surprise onside kicks were successful. Between 2001 and 2010, surprise onside kicks were successful 60% of the time, while expected onside kicks were successful less than 20% of the time. Accordingly, some analysts have suggested that the surprise onside kick is an underutilized strategy.
described this play after the 1906 season:
In these early years and into the 1920s, all players of the kicking team except the kicker were permitted to recover the ball once it hit the ground beyond the neutral zone. Later, the rules were modified to require it be at least 20 yards downfield.
One such version, Arena football
, is current; however, it must be taken from either a place kick
or drop kick
, because punts are illegal in that league.
The idea of the early 20th century, XFL, and Arena rules allowing kicking side recovery on grounded balls was generally to force the receiving team to play the ball, encourage quick (i.e. surprise) kicking, and thereby loosen the defense. However, kicks have rarely been employed as offensive tactics even when these rules were present; the forward pass remains the more effective tactic to loosen and surprise the defense.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and Canadian football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
, an onside kick (sometimes onsides kick) is a type of kick
Kick (football)
Kicking is a method used by many types of football, including:* Association football* Australian rules football* International rules football* American football* Canadian football* Gaelic football* Rugby league* Rugby union...
used at a kickoff
Kickoff (American football)
A kickoff is a method of starting a drive in American football and Canadian football. Typically, a kickoff consists of one team – the "kicking team" – kicking the ball to the opposing team – the "receiving team"...
or other free kick, or scrimmage kick or other kick during play, in which the ball is kicked favorably for the kicking team to avoid giving away the ball. Other benefits of kicking may be sacrificed to that end in an onside kick.
Origin of the term and use in Canadian football
American football and Canadian football originate in rugby footballRugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, and so does the onside kick. In rugby, while the forward pass
Forward pass
In several forms of football a forward pass is when the ball is thrown in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line...
is prohibited, a team in possession may legally kick the ball downfield and recapture possession, provided that the receiver of the kick was onside
Offside (rugby)
In rugby football, the offside rule prohibits players from gaining an advantage from being too far forward. The specifics of the rule differ between the two major codes.-Rugby union:Offside rules in rugby union are complex...
when the kick was made (i.e., level with or behind the kicker.)
This form of onside kick is still legal in Canadian football, just as in rugby. A player of the kicking team (at any kick, not just a free kick) who is "onside" may recover the ball and retain possession for his team. This includes the kicker himself and anyone else behind the ball at the time it was kicked, other than the holder for a place kick. The form of onside kick available at a free kick in American football (see below) is also available in Canadian football for a kickoff as well; however, the kick may well be chipped high instead of bounced, because the players of the receiving team have no particular first right to the ball as in American football (due to the fair catch
Fair catch
A fair catch is a feature of American football and several other codes of football, in which a player attempting to catch a ball kicked by the opposing team – either on a kickoff or punt – is entitled to catch the ball without interference from any member of the kicking team...
rule); both sides may play the ball equally, even in the air.
Modern American football usage
Since at least 1923, the onside kick has been subject to additional constraints in most forms of American football, and the term is now something of a misnomer in American football. The restrictions that must be met in order for the ball to be recovered are:- The kick must be a free kick (a kickoffKickoff (American football)A kickoff is a method of starting a drive in American football and Canadian football. Typically, a kickoff consists of one team – the "kicking team" – kicking the ball to the opposing team – the "receiving team"...
, or free kick after a safety, but not the rare fair catch kickFair catch kickThe fair catch kick is a rarely used rule in some forms of American football that allows a team, after making a fair catch of an opponent's kick, to attempt a field goal freely from the spot of the catch. It is one of the three types of free kicks; the other two are the kickoff and the safety kick...
) - The kick must cross the receiving team's restraining line (normally 10 yards in front of the kicking team's line), unless the receiving team touches the ball before that line.
- The kicking team may only recover and retain possession of the kicked ball, but not advance it.
- The kicking team must not interfere with an attempt by a player of the receiving side to catch the ball on the fly.
In essence, an "onside kick" in American football is the same as any other kickoff or free kick, except that it is kicked in a particular way in order to give the kicking team the best chance of fielding the ball and retaining possession--typically in a diagonal direction and as close to the advancing players from the kicking team as possible. An alternative method is to kick the ball with a great deal of force directly at an opposing player. If the ball touches the player, but he cannot secure it, it becomes live regardless of whether it has traveled 10 yards.
Once the ball has hit the ground there is no chance of a catch and hence no possibility of interference. Thus the kicking team generally attempts to make the ball bounce early and be available around 10 yards in front of the spot of the kick. One technique, useful especially on a hard field such as one with an artificial surface, is to kick the ball in a way that it spins end-over-end very near the ground and makes a sudden bounce high in the air. The oblong shape of an American football can make it bounce off the ground and players in very unpredictable ways. This unpredictability has the additional benefit for the kicking team of increasing the probability that the receiving team will muff the kick. To counter this, when the receiving team expects an onside kick to be attempted, it will often substitute a "hands team" consisting of players skilled at catching or otherwise securing the ball.
Traditionally, the onside kick had its own formation, in which all ten players on the kicking side of the field would line up on one side (left or right) of the kicker, in an effort to get as many people as possible into one area of the field. This is still popular in high school football; however, the NCAA (and later the NFL) have since added a requirement that at least four players line up on each side of the kicker. To combat this, some teams (including the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, who pioneered this strategy) developed a "cluster formation" in which all of the players line up behind and immediately next to the kicker in what is effectively a moving huddle
Huddle
In sport, a huddle is when a team gathers together, usually in a tight circle, to strategise, motivate or celebrate. It is a popular strategy for keeping opponents insulated from sensitive information, and acts as a form of insulation when the level of noise in the venue is such that normal...
. This, too, was eventually banned in the NFL rule books with a 2009 rule change that states that "the kicking team cannot have more than five players bunched together;" the rule change has been considered a gratuitous targeting of Bills special teams coach Bobby April
Bobby April
Robert "Bobby" April, Jr. is an American football special teams coach for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League...
, as the ostensible reason for the ban (injury risk) had negligible evidence to support it.
An onside kick from a free kick is usually a desperation technique used for a kickoff by a team trailing in the score with little time left in the game, in order to gain another possession of the ball and to hopefully allow scoring again. The risk is that if the receiving team does get possession of the ball — as they usually do — they will have much better field position, meaning they will have less distance of the field that they need to move the ball in order to score. For this reason, this play is typically only attempted with very little time on the clock, when the field position advantage of the receiving team is not very important because they are already ahead and will simply focus on running the clock out and ending the game regardless of their initial field position.
Occasionally, football coaches will attempt surprise onside kicks in an effort to catch their opponent's players off guard, when they are less likely to have the putative "hands team" on the field. For instance, in Super Bowl XXX
Super Bowl XXX
Super Bowl XXX was an American football game played on January 28, 1996 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona to decide the National Football League champion following the 1995 regular season...
, Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
coach Bill Cowher
Bill Cowher
William Laird "Bill" Cowher is a former American football coach and player. Cowher resigned after 15 seasons as the Steelers' coach on January 5, 2007, 11 months to the day after winning 2005–06's Super Bowl XL...
called an onside kick early in the fourth quarter when trailing 20-10 which was successfully recovered. More recently, in Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion New Orleans Saints to decide the National Football League champion for the 2009 season. The Saints defeated the Colts by a score of...
, the New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
called an onside kick from kickoff formation at the start of the second half and successfully converted the possession into a touchdown.
Onside kicks are generally very risky and are not often successful. Overall, between 2003 and 2006, an onside kick in the NFL was successful about 20% of the time (41 times out of 206 attempts), though there is a wide discrepancy between surprise kicks and those that the hands team expects. Among anticipated onside kicks, between the 2005 and 2006 seasons, the onside kick was 10-for-86, less than 12%. This was before the league's rules changed to eliminate stacked formations, so that number has likely gone down even further. Surprise onside kicks, however, have had more success; in 2006, more than half of the surprise onside kicks were successful. Between 2001 and 2010, surprise onside kicks were successful 60% of the time, while expected onside kicks were successful less than 20% of the time. Accordingly, some analysts have suggested that the surprise onside kick is an underutilized strategy.
Offside "onside" kicks
There have been versions of American football that allow or allowed the kicking team to recover the ball once it hit the ground, regardless of onside or offside, and not only for free kicks. Any such kick recovered by the kicking team is often referred to as an "onside kick," even if the recovering player was in front of the kicker at the time of the kick (and thus, according to the original definition, offside.) St. Louis coach Eddie CochemsEddie Cochems
Edward Bulwer "Eddie" Cochems was an American football player and coach. He played football for the University of Wisconsin from 1898 to 1901 and was the head football coach at North Dakota State , Clemson , Saint Louis University , and Maine . During his three years at St...
described this play after the 1906 season:
-
- "Instead of keeping the ball in the air it should be kicked to the ground as soon as the case will permit, since the moment it touches, the whole team is on-side. The longer the kicker can delay kicking the further down the field the team can get to either recover the ball themselves or form interference for the player who is supposed to recover."
In these early years and into the 1920s, all players of the kicking team except the kicker were permitted to recover the ball once it hit the ground beyond the neutral zone. Later, the rules were modified to require it be at least 20 yards downfield.
One such version, Arena football
Arena football
Arena football is a variety of gridiron football played by the Arena Football League . It is a proprietary game, the rights to which are owned by Gridiron Enterprises, and is played indoors on a smaller field than American or Canadian outdoor football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game....
, is current; however, it must be taken from either a place kick
Place kick
The place kick is a kicking style commonly used in rugby league and rugby union. It is also seen in Association football, American football and Canadian football.-American and Canadian football:...
or drop kick
Drop kick
A drop kick is a type of kick in various codes of football. It involves a player dropping the ball and then kicking it when it bounces off the ground. It contrasts to a punt, wherein the player kicks the ball without letting it hit the ground first....
, because punts are illegal in that league.
The idea of the early 20th century, XFL, and Arena rules allowing kicking side recovery on grounded balls was generally to force the receiving team to play the ball, encourage quick (i.e. surprise) kicking, and thereby loosen the defense. However, kicks have rarely been employed as offensive tactics even when these rules were present; the forward pass remains the more effective tactic to loosen and surprise the defense.