Glossary

Icing the kicker

Terms

What it is

Icing the kicker is when the defense calls a timeout just before a field goal attempt, to make the kicker wait and feel pressure.

In a game

The coach calls the timeout right before the snap. The kicker has to wait, and may lose his rhythm.

More detail

The kick that happens before the timeout does not count. Whether it works is debated, since statistics are mixed, but coaches still do it.