I was just watching the Carolina Panthers versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game and the coach for the Panthers used the fair catch free kick rule.
This rule can be used when a team has just made a fair catch gets to try a free field goal kick. The players lineup in kickoff position and the kicker gets somebody to prop the ball up like they would a field goal kick.
Here's the attempt:
The Panthers attempt at the 50-yard line was not successful but this raises the question that why isn't it used more. Some factors have to be field position and time on the clock. Usually, punts go in the back of the end zone so there's no opportunity to fair catch it and usually on kickoffs and punts the field position is bad to try a kick after the fair catch.
As for time on the clock, a team isn't going to try a free kick if there's 13:38 still on the clock. They still have an opportunity to go down the field and get a touchdown. The Panthers attempted the field goal with :01 left on the clock for halftime.
The Panthers could have started a new trend like when coaches started trying to freeze the kicker with a timeout right before their field goal attempt.
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