Glossary of American Football - K

K

kick

1. As a verb, to strike the ball deliberately with the foot

2. As a noun, such an action producing a punt, place kick, or drop kick

kicker or placekicker (K)

Player who specializes in placekicking (i.e. field goals and kick offs).

kickoff

A free kick which starts each half, or restarts the game following a touchdown or field goal. The kickoff may be a place kick in American or Canadian football, or a drop kick in American football.

kick returner

A player on the receiving team who specializes in fielding kicks and running them back.

kneel

A low risk play in which the player in possession of the ball kneels down after receiving the snap, ending the play while keeping the clock running. This is done to end the game sooner without needing to run a riskier play. The player kneeling is said to "take a knee", and thus is "taking a knee" or "taking the knee". The quarterback of the team in the lead will often take a knee on the first snap following the two-minute warning. Though long frowned upon - because it was not in accordance with the game's doctrine of "toughness" - taking a knee became an accepted way to run out the clock after the events of the Miracle at the Meadowlands. To this end, players will sometimes forgo scoring a touchdown and instead choose to run out the clock by kneeling short of reaching the end zone. This is usually done when the team with possession of the ball is in the lead, but not always. For example, in week 10 of the 2009 NFL regular season, the Jacksonville Jaguars' Maurice Jones-Drew took a knee in this fashion when his team was trailing the New York Jets by 1 point with less than 2 minutes remaining in the game. The Jaguars were then able to run the clock down before calling a time-out with 3 seconds remaining - just enough time to successfully kick a game-winning 3-point field goal. By taking the knee and allowing the clock to run instead of scoring the touchdown, Jones-Drew and the Jaguars kept the ball in their possession until the clock was at zero, thus eliminating the possibility of the Jets scoring any further points and guaranteeing victory with a successful field goal.