Fake Field Goals and Fake Punts: The Kicker’s Job When the Kick Is Not the Play

Here is what most kickers get wrong about fakes. They think their job is to stand there and let other people run the play. In reality, the kicker is one of the most important actors in a fake, because the defence is reading you — and a kicker who visibly stops kicking is the tell that kills the play before it starts.

Fakes work because the defence believes a kick is coming. Everything the offence does in the two seconds beforehand is aimed at maintaining that belief, and you are the single most watched confirmation of it.

This guide covers the types of fake, exactly what the kicker does in each, how to sell one without giving anything away, what happens if it breaks down, and the honest risk conversation that should happen before any of this is called.

Why Fakes Work and When They Are Called

Understanding the logic tells you what your part of it is for.

Fakes work on expectation. A defence facing a field goal unit organises itself to block a kick — players commit inward, edges crash, and nobody is thinking about pass coverage. That commitment is the vulnerability the fake exploits.

The window is tiny. A fake only works while the defence still believes. Once one defender recognises it, the advantage evaporates, and a fake against a prepared defence is one of the worst plays in football.

They are usually situational. Fourth and short. A field goal that is at the edge of range. A game state where a stalled drive is nearly as bad as a turnover. A defence that has shown a specific tendency on film.

They are high variance by design. The upside is a first down or a touchdown from a formation nobody defended. The downside is a turnover on downs with your specialists in the middle of it.

Which is why they are rare. Most coaches call very few fakes in a season, and the good ones are set up by film study rather than improvised out of frustration.

The defence is watching the specialists for confirmation that a kick is coming. That makes you part of the deception whether you have thought about it or not.

The Types of Fake

Terminology varies between programmes, but the structures are consistent.

Notice the split. In roughly half of these you are a supporting actor whose job is deception and then self-preservation. In the other half you are the ball carrier, which is an entirely different proposition and demands genuine practice rather than a conversation in the huddle.

What the Kicker Actually Does

Broken down by what the play asks of you.

When you are not involved: sell, then clear. Take your normal steps, at your normal timing, with your normal body language. Then, once the ball is elsewhere, get out of the way. You are not a blocker, you are not a lead runner, and a specialist trying to be either is how kickers get hurt on fakes.

Do not watch the play. The instinct to turn and see what is happening is strong and it puts you standing still in traffic. Move to space first.

Know where your space is. Decide before the snap where you are going once you have sold the fake. Improvising a route through a collapsing pocket is not a plan.

When you are involved: it is a real assignment. If the play calls for you to run, catch or throw, that is a skill requiring practice reps, not a surprise. Ask for them.

Know the rules that apply. Passing, receiving, eligibility and formation requirements all matter on a fake, and they vary by level. A fake that produces a penalty is worse than no fake at all.

Know the check-off. Many fakes have a kill call if the defence lines up wrong. Know what it sounds like and what you do when you hear it.

Selling It Without Tipping It

This is the part that is genuinely your responsibility, and it is subtler than it sounds.

The tell is almost always a change. Defences do not spot fakes because someone looks suspicious — they spot them because something is different from the last forty times they saw that unit line up. Your job is to be identical.

Same steps, same timing, same rhythm. Walk on the way you always do. Take your marks the way you always do. Set at the same moment you always do.

Same body language. Kickers who know a fake is coming often become oddly still, or start looking around, or set up faster than usual because they are thinking about their assignment rather than the kick.

Do not look at where the ball is going. The most common tell there is. If the play is going right, do not glance right.

Do not communicate anything unusual. No extra signals, no glances at the holder, no adjusting anything you would not normally adjust.

Start your approach normally. On most fakes the kicker begins their steps exactly as usual. That first movement is a large part of what convinces the defence.

When the Fake Involves You Kicking

A specific and awkward case worth its own section.

Some fakes end in a kick anyway. A rugby-style punt where the punter rolls out and reads, or a play designed to draw pressure before a kick still happens. These demand kicking on the move, off unfamiliar footing, on a compressed timeline.

That is a different skill. Your normal technique assumes measured steps, a planted foot and a known spot. Kicking on the run has none of those.

It has to be practised. If your programme has any play that might require you to kick outside your normal setup, you need genuine reps at it. Discovering on a Friday that you cannot punt while moving right is an avoidable problem.

Simplify when it happens. Shorter approach, controlled effort, clean contact. A modest kick that comes off cleanly is a far better outcome than a maximal attempt that gets blocked or shanked.

Know the priority. Ask your coach: if this breaks down, do you want the kick away at any cost, or do you want the ball secured? Those are different instructions and you should not be deciding under pressure.

When It Breaks Down

Fakes break down more often than they succeed, and having a plan for that is genuinely part of the preparation.

Look at the right-hand column. Almost every “what not to do” is a specialist attempting something they have not been trained for out of a sense of obligation. That instinct is understandable and it is how kickers get injured on plays they were never meant to be part of.

Equipment

The Risk Conversation

Worth having before a fake is ever called, not in the week it appears in the game plan.

Ask what your assignment is on every fake in the playbook. Not the general idea — your specific job, including where you go afterwards.

Ask for live reps. Walk-throughs train the mechanics and not the deception, and they certainly do not train you to catch a ball at full speed under pressure.

Be honest about what you can do. If you cannot reliably throw a ten-yard pass under pressure, that is important information for the person designing the play. Saying so is not a failure; discovering it in a game is.

Raise the injury trade openly. A coach losing their kicker on a failed fake has lost every remaining kick of the season. Most coordinators have thought about this and will tell you plainly what they want you to do when it collapses.

Clarify the priority when things go wrong. Secure the ball, or get clear? Kick it away, or protect it? Know before, not during.

Check the rules with them. Eligibility, formation and passing rules on fakes vary by level and a penalty turns a clever play into a disaster.

Common Mistakes

Frequently Asked Questions

Keep Going

As an Amazon Associate we may earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. General information about specialist responsibilities — play designs, terminology, eligibility and formation rules vary by programme and by level. Always follow your own coaching staff’s instructions and your competition’s current rulebook.