Most people know the first way for you to earn 1 point on the football field, the good old-fashioned extra point. For those who are completely out of the football loop, after a touchdown you have the opportunity to go for one or two points. Two points if you cross the goal line again, and one point if the kicker kicks the ball through the upright at the back of the endzone.
However, most people don't realize that there are 2 types of kicks. The normal one we see in every football game where there is a long snapper, who snaps the ball to a holder, who holds the ball for the kicker to boot. The exception to the rule? The Drop kick.
The drop kick is defined as, "a kick by a kicker who drops the ball and kicks it as, or immediately after, it touches the ground," by the NFL rule book. Although this has no practical application in a world where most kickers are pretty darn accurate when it comes to extra points, don't you think that it would make football a little more interesting if a team tried it every blue moon?
Lets take the Pats as an example. In 2006, when Doug Flutie, at this point in his NFL career a back-up QB, went on the field with the kick team, which included 4 TE and a WR, but no kicker. Imagine how confusing this formation would be to an opposing Defense who wouldn't be able to figure out what exactly to defend, the kick, or the 2-point conversion.
Also imagine how difficult it is to drop a football on it's end, predict the bounce then kick it through the uprights. The drop kick is definitely a lost art, something we will most likely never see again, and a little bit of trivia for those sports dummies out there.
(information from ESPN.com and Wikipedia)
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