Does a Field Goal Count if It Bounces?

Rule 11, Section 4, Article 1 says a field goal is scored when all of the following conditions are met:

1. The kick must be a place kick or drop kick made by the offense from on or behind the line of scrimmage, or from the spot of a fair catch.
2. After the ball is kicked, it must not touch the ground or any player of the offensive team before it passes through the goal.
3. The entire ball must pass through the vertical plane of the goal, which is the area above the crossbar and between the uprights or, if above the uprights, between their outside edges. If the ball passes through the goal and returns through the goal without striking the ground or some object or person beyond the goal, the attempt is unsuccessful.

The second condition is the one about bouncing. A ball that hits the ground before it reaches the goal does not meet it. The text does not exclude a ball that touches the crossbar or an upright, so a kick that bounces off either and then passes through the vertical plane of the goal meets all three conditions.

Rule 9 covers a kick that touches the goal posts. If a missed field goal or a punt touches the receivers' goal post, uprights or crossbar, the ball is dead in the receivers' end zone, and the customary rules for punts and missed field goals apply. The rules also say that when any legal or illegal kick touches the receivers' goal posts or crossbar, the ball is dead.

For the case where the ball hits the post and rebounds back into the field, the same dead-ball rule applies, since it is the touching of the goal post that makes the ball dead. This page does not go further than the quoted text.

The goal is the vertical plane extending indefinitely above the crossbar, between the uprights, or, if above the uprights, between the outside edges of the uprights. That wording is why a kick that passes high above the top of an upright, and inside its outside edge, can still be good.

Rule 3 defines the kinds of kick the rule allows. A kick is intentionally striking the ball with the knee, lower leg or foot, and it ends when a player of either team possesses the ball or when the ball is dead. A drop kick is made by a player who drops the ball and kicks it as, or immediately after, it touches the ground. A place kick is made while the ball is in a fixed position on the ground, and the ball may be held in position by a teammate. Section 10 then defines a field goal as a kick from the field of play through the plane of the opponent's goal, made by a drop kick or a place kick from the line of scrimmage or during a fair catch kick.

The first condition also names the fair catch kick. A field goal may be kicked from the spot of a fair catch, and if the fair catch is made or awarded outside the inbounds line, the spot of the kick is the nearest inbounds line. The bounce rule is the same for that kick: the ball must not touch the ground or an offensive player before it passes through the goal.

The wording comes from Rule 1 for the goal, Rule 9 for kicks that touch the goal post, and Rule 11, Section 4 for the field goal, all of the official NFL playing rules, 2026 edition.

The rules are reviewed each year. This page was checked against the 2026 edition. More football pages are collected on the NFL hub, and the page about blocked field goals covers the live ball.