There's been an uptick in drop kick attempts in the IFL over the past season and a half, but this past weekend we saw it on full display from Duke City kicker Ernesto Lacayo - who went 5/5 on Drop Kick attempts on extra points and single handedly (or footedly?) kept Duke City in the game against Frisco.
What is a Drop Kick?
Per the IFL rules (Article 7.a.), "a dropkick is a legal action by a player who drops the ball toward the ground and kicks the ball in close proximity to the ball hitting the ground and striking the foot of the Kicker."
Below is an example of a standard extra point set, where we have the line of blockers, the holder and the kicker. The blockers block, the holder holds, & the kicker kicks.
I'm sure we've all wanted to kick a ball at a lawyers face before.
Exactly what everyone is used to. But with the Drop Kick formation, it differs:
If you notice, there is no holder - that is because the snap goes directly to the kicker, who drops the ball and kicks the ball in close proximity to the ground through the uprights. The nonexistent holder moves up to the line as an additional blocker.
But where this gets very interesting is when you look at the points awarded for each type of kick:
Points Awarded
PAT by place kick: One (1) point
PAT by drop kick: Two (2) points
Field Goal by placement: Three (3) points
Field Goal by drop kick: Four (4) points
So you get an extra point AND an extra blocker on the play! This can have a big change on strategy for a team, especially if you have a really good kicker like Lacayo on the roster.
At one point, Duke City & Frisco each had scored 4 TDs in the game -- but the score was 32-28 in favor of Duke City because they got 4 additional points through these 4 drop kick attempts. That is huge!
If I am a coach in the IFL, this has to be something you are at least working on implementing with your special teams. Traditional one-point PAT attempts in 2023 had a 81.7% conversion rate across the league, so I understand the appeal of 'playing it safe' and going for the extra point, but the upside of doubling up the points and getting an additional blocker to avoid any potential blocked kicks has to be considered.
We'll keep an eye on this as the season progresses to see if we see an uptick in this across the league, or if Duke City is going to continue to be the only ones taking advantage. We're going to see a game at some point this season where a drop kick is the determining factor and maybe then it will open some eyes.
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