A dropkick in an NFL game 1st time since 1941 championship game

[TheEnforcer]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2277308

Flutie converts first drop kick since 1941 championship
ESPN.com news services


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- For 21 years, Doug Flutie's career has been defined by one play. Now the "Hail Flutie" has its historic bookend.



Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
Flutie converted this drop kick -- the first since 1941 -- for the extra point after a Patriots' TD in the fourth quarter.The 43-year-old Patriots backup converted the NFL's first successful drop kick since 1941, making an extra point in the fourth quarter of the Miami Dolphins' mostly meaningless 28-26 victory Sunday over New England.

"I think Doug deserves it," said usually dour Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who broke into a wide smile when his sprightly quarterback split the uprights off one bounce. "He is a guy that adds a lot to this game of football, has added a lot through his great career -- running, passing and now kicking.

"He's got a skill and we got a chance to let him use it, and I am happy for him. First time since '41," said Belichick, a football historian who last month brought out a leather helmet in his media session. "It might be 60 years again, too."

According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Web site, the league's last drop kick for points was on Dec. 21, 1941 -- two weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor -- when Ray "Scooter" McLean converted for the Chicago Bears to beat the New York Giants 37-9 in the NFL championship game.

"Flutie might have been there the last time it happened," placekicker Adam Vinatieri joked.

The ball was more round until 1934, making the bounce more predictable. And the rules were changed to require the kicker to be behind the line of scrimmage, relegating the drop kick to a riskier version of a place kick or extra point.

The dropkick remains in the NFL's official rule book, even though it hadn't been successfully converted in decades. Rule 3, Section 8 defines the drop kick as "a kick by a kicker who drops the ball and kicks it as, or immediately after, it touches the ground."

According to the Hall of Fame's site, ex-Bears quarterback Jim McMahon begged his coach for a chance to attempt a dropkick in a game. But his coach, Mike Ditka, denied the request.

But when ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman mentioned to Belichick that he'd seen Flutie drop kick, the coach called his quarterback into his office and asked if he could do it.

"I said, 'I could do it,' " Flutie said. "'There's no real application for it, but I could do it.' "

A native of nearby Natick, Flutie won the Heisman Trophy at Boston College after connecting with Gerard Phelan on a 48-yard touchdown pass to beat Miami as time expired. That is his signature play -- and one of the most memorable in college football history.

With the Patriots already happy with their playoff seeding, Tom Brady sat out most of the game so Matt Cassel, who's usually No. 3 behind Flutie, could get some snaps. He hit Tim Dwight for a 9-yard touchdown with 6:10 left, and Flutie came onto the field with the kicking unit.

"It sort of screwed me up," said Dolphins coach Nick Saban, who needed a timeout to get things straight. "I couldn't figure out what was going on. They had a quarterback in, four tight ends and a receiver and there was no kicker."

Flutie took his position for a regular shotgun snap, then retreated to the 12 yard-line to await the ball; he caught the ball, dropped it to the grass and kicked it off the short hop straight through the uprights. After getting a hug on the field by his teammates, Flutie ran off to embrace Belichick.

Even Saban appreciated the moment.

"I was kind of pleased to know that somebody can still drop kick," Saban said. "Man, when I was a kid we all practiced that. Thought it was a lost art.

"But," he added, "you know Flutie showed his age on that one."

The 1984 Heisman winner went into the USFL and the NFL, but only achieved stardom in the Canadian Football League, where he was a three-time Grey Cup champion and six-time Most Outstanding Player. He returned to the NFL in 1998 and played three years with Buffalo and four with San Diego before returning to New England for a second stint with the Patriots.

He hasn't said he will retire, but the impression that this is his final season was reinforced by Belichick's postgame valedictory.

"It's possible, but I'm not going to rule anything out," Flutie said. "But if that ends up being my last play, it wouldn't be bad."

[JoesHO]

haah he is amazing

[PornoDoggy]

I didn't realize the play was still in the rule books.

[Dravyk]

Originally Posted by TheEnforcer

"I was kind of pleased to know that somebody can still drop kick," Saban said. "Man, when I was a kid we all practiced that. Thought it was a lost art."

Same here. As a kid, we all practiced (and did, or tried) dropkicks when playing football. And then learned, no one did them "for real".

Funny the things you do as a kid. I think we always were doing 2-point conversions. But it's only been the last bunch of years in the NFL that I've seen teams doing that. Seems there was a good 20-something years when no one wanted to chance that either.

[MorganGrayson]

My daughter sent me the link to this article.
The four years Flutie was with San Diego were four of the happiest years of my life.
DAMN that man is good looking!

[Evil Chris]

After all... it's still called "foot"ball.

[Vick]

At this point Doug Flutie is one of my favorite players in the NFL

He's almost my age, my size and still playing pro football
and having fun doing it

[MorganGrayson]

Originally Posted by Vick

At this point Doug Flutie is one of my favorite players in the NFL

He's almost my age, my size and still playing pro football
and having fun doing it

Vick...that's one of the many reasons I adore the guy. He actually loves what he does. He has fun. He's always said that he'll keep playing for as long as his knees hold out.

[DrGuile]

Originally Posted by Dravyk

Funny the things you do as a kid. I think we always were doing 2-point conversions. But it's only been the last bunch of years in the NFL that I've seen teams doing that. Seems there was a good 20-something years when no one wanted to chance that either.

Lol, simply because you could not do it. Was added back a few years ago.

[CDSmith]

I thought a dropkick was worth 3 points.

Anyone else see the original version of "The longest yard"? That's the only time I had ever heard of a dropkick before now.

[DrGuile]

Originally Posted by CDSmith

I thought a dropkick was worth 3 points.

Anyone else see the original version of "The longest yard"? That's the only time I had ever heard of a dropkick before now.

dropkick would be worth three points if it was made on a regular play, and not the extra point.

The drop kick lost all practical utility when they added the rule that a kick must be made behind the line of scrimmage. Otherwise, you could make a pass downfield, and that person would drop kick for 3... unlikely play, but that was the idea...

[PornoDoggy]

The only reason I know about it was hearing my grandfathers and other older relatives talk about it. My dad was a football fanatic, and I don't even remember him ever talking about it.

Check out some of the team names in the article below ...

http://www.profootballhof.com/histor...elease_id=1481

Believe it or not, the dropkick remains a legal maneuver in the National Football League today. It still exists in the NFL's official rule book. Rule 3, Section 8 defines the dropkick as, "a kick by a kicker who drops the ball and kicks it as, or immediately after, it touches the ground."

Obviously, the New England Patriots were well aware of this fact. In the team's 2005 regular season finale against the Miami Dolphins, quarterback Doug Flutie dropkicked an extra point following a 9-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Tim Dwight in the fourth quarter. Flutie's point-after-attempt was the first drop kick converted in the NFL in more than six decades.

Some of the legends who've been permanently honored in the Pro Football Hall of Fame were masters of the dropkick. Names like Jim Thorpe, Wilbur "Pete" Henry, and Paddy Driscoll were known to have entertained pro football crowds with their extraordinary talent of dropkicking. Albeit, some of their exploits were exaggerated but nevertheless the dropkick was an integral part of the game in the 1920s and 1930s.

It was during this era that the football slightly resembled a rugby ball. Numerous rule changes affecting the shape of the ball took place during the early years of the NFL. Changes to the ball essentially ended by 1934 as it took its familiar shape of a prolate spheroid. As a result, the number of dropkicks attempted in the NFL diminished significantly in subsequent years.

"As soon as they made the ball pointier, dropkicking went out of style. They needed the ball to bounce and to bounce true," commented Bob Carroll, a leading football historian.

In fact, it wasn't until 1963 that the league removed the category of dropkicked field goals from the record book. Driscoll shared the two major records for dropkicking when he booted fourfield goals (23, 18, 50 and 35 yards) for the Chicago Cardinals in a 19-9 win over the Columbus Tigers on October 11, 1925. That mark was equaled by the Kansas City Cowboys' Elbert Bloodgood. His four dropkicked field goals were from 35, 32, 20, and 25 yards as Kansas City edged the Duluth Eskimos, 12-7, on December 12, 1926.

Driscoll's 50-yarder was also an NFL best and matched the record-tying kick he made one year earlier in a game against the Milwaukee Badgers on September 28, 1924. The Cardinals defeated Milwaukee, 17-7.

Prior to Flutie drop-kicking the PAT on January 1, 2006, Ray McLean of the Chicago Bears was the last player to successfully drop kick in the NFL. McLean converted an extra point following Ken Kavanaugh's 42-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown during the Bears' 37-9 win over the New York Giants in the 1941 NFL Championship Game. The drop kick came in the fourth quarter of the title game played on December 21, 1941.

Hall of Famer Earl "Dutch" Clark is believed to be the last player to successfully dropkick a field goal in the NFL. According to game accounts, he dropkicked a 17-yard field goal in the Detroit Lions 16-7 victory over the Chicago Cardinals on September 19, 1937.

[PornoDoggy]

Originally Posted by Dravyk

Same here. As a kid, we all practiced (and did, or tried) dropkicks when playing football. And then learned, no one did them "for real".

Funny the things you do as a kid. I think we always were doing 2-point conversions. But it's only been the last bunch of years in the NFL that I've seen teams doing that. Seems there was a good 20-something years when no one wanted to chance that either.

Two point conversion has been a part of NCAA rules as long as I can remember, and the old AFL allowed it. It didn't survive the merger, and the NFL didn't adopt it until sometime in the 90s.

[Grump]

PornoDoggy is right, the NFL just added the 2 point conversion recently. I think it was within the last 5 or so years.