Is a Blocked Field Goal a Live Ball?

The rulebook defines a live ball in Rule 3. A dead ball becomes a live ball when it is legally snapped on a scrimmage down, and a live ball "continues in play until the down ends". A field goal attempt is a scrimmage down in which the ball is snapped, so the ball is live from the snap until the down ends. A block does not end the down by itself.

Rule 7 lists the situations in which an official declares the ball dead and the down ended, and a block is not on the list. The list includes when a runner is out of bounds, when a forward pass is incomplete, when any legal or illegal kick touches the receivers' goal posts or crossbar, and when a touchdown, touchback, safety, field goal or Try has been made. It also includes the case in which any legal or illegal kick is caught or recovered by the kickers, except a scrimmage kick that is kicked from behind the line and is recovered behind the line.

That exception is the one that matters for a blocked kick. A scrimmage kick that is recovered behind the line by the kicking team does not make the ball dead, which means the ball remains live.

The rules describe the ball after a block as a loose ball. A loose ball is a live ball not in player possession, such as one that has been kicked, passed or fumbled. A loose ball is considered to be in the possession of the team whose player kicked, passed or fumbled it, and it stays a loose ball until a player secures possession or the ball becomes dead.

Rule 9, Section 3 covers the catch or recovery of a scrimmage kick. When a scrimmage kick is caught or recovered by the kicking team behind the line of scrimmage, the kicking team may advance, even if the ball has crossed the line and returned behind the line. So if a field goal is blocked, the ball stays behind the line and the kicking team gets the ball, the kicking team can pick it up and run.

The rule continues with the cases in which the ball returns behind the line. If it returned untouched by the receiving team beyond the line, and the kicking team catches or recovers it, the existing series of downs continues unless the kicking team advances the ball to the line to gain, in which case there is a new series of downs. If the ball returned behind the line after being touched by the receiving team beyond the line, and the kicking team catches or recovers it, by rule there has been a change of possession and the kicking team will be awarded a new series of downs.

A player of the receiving team who is blocked into the ball does not count as touching it. Article 4 of the same rule says a player is not considered to have touched the ball if he is blocked into it by an opponent, provided he is in a passive position and not blocking. A player who is engaged with and blocking an opponent when he contacts the ball is deemed to have touched it.

A kick that is not blocked can still miss, and Rule 11 covers it. If a missed field goal attempt crosses the line of scrimmage, and the ball has not been touched by the receivers beyond the line, the following applies:

There are exceptions, and the general rules for a scrimmage kick apply when the ball is touched by the receivers beyond the line of scrimmage before it becomes dead, or when the kick ends behind the line of scrimmage and the ball has not been touched by the receivers beyond the line. A kick blocked behind the line falls in the second exception, which is why the general scrimmage-kick rules, not the missed-field-goal spot rule, apply to it.

One timing rule applies to kicks as well. For a successful field goal, or for an unsuccessful attempt that does not land in the field of play, the maximum amount of time that can run off the game clock is five seconds.

A field goal is scored when all of the following conditions are met. 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. After the ball is kicked, it must not touch the ground or any player of the offensive team before it passes through the goal. 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. A field goal is worth 3 points.

A kick that is blocked behind the line is one case. A kick that crosses the line is another, and Rule 9, Section 3 treats it differently. When the kickers catch or recover a kick beyond the line of scrimmage, the ball is dead at the spot of recovery. If the receiving team touched the ball beyond the line first, the catch or recovery by the kickers is legal, the ball is dead and it is first-and-10 for the kickers, or a touchdown if they recover it in the receivers' end zone.

If the receivers did not touch the kick beyond the line, a catch or recovery by the kickers is illegal: the ball is dead and it is first-and-10 for the receivers at the spot of the catch or recovery, with the missed field goal spot rule in Rule 11 as the exception. When a kick is caught or recovered at the same moment by two eligible opponents, or the ball lies on the field with no player trying to recover it, the ball is awarded to the receivers.

The rules limit the formation on both sides. Rule 9, Section 1 allows only the end men on each side of the line, or an eligible receiver lined up behind the line and more than one yard outside the end man, to go more than one yard beyond the line before the ball is kicked, and the penalty for an ineligible player downfield before the kick is five yards. When the kicking team presents a field goal or Try kick formation, a defender within one yard of the line must have his entire body outside the snapper's shoulder pads at the snap, and no more than six defenders may be on the line of scrimmage on either side of the snapper. The penalty for an illegal formation by the defense is five yards, and pushing teammates into the offensive formation costs 15 yards.

Blocking is limited too. All players on the receiving team are prohibited from blocking below the waist during a down in which there is a scrimmage kick. Before the ball is kicked, each team is under the usual blocking limits for offense and defense. After the ball is kicked and goes beyond the line of scrimmage, and until the kick ends, the kicking team is under the blocking restrictions of the defense and the receiving team under those of the offense. If the ball does not go beyond the line, or goes beyond it and returns untouched by the receivers, the restrictions do not change.

The wording comes from the official NFL playing rules, 2026 edition: Rule 3 for the live ball and the loose ball, Rule 7 for dead-ball situations, Rule 9 for the catch or recovery of a scrimmage kick, and Rule 11 for the field goal and the missed field goal.

The rule text above is from the 2026 edition, the current one for this season. More football pages are collected on the NFL hub, the dimensions of the goal are on the page about the dimensions of a football field, and the clock after a play is covered on the page about the NFL clock.