TRAILING THE TAMPA Bay Buccaneers in Week 3, New York Jets defensive end Will McDonald IV did not line up at his typical edge spot.
The score was 26-20 and the Jets had just scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
Buccaneers kicker Chase McLaughlin was stepping up to attempt a 43-yard field goal. But McDonald had other plans, lining up across from right guard Elijah Klein.
On the snap, McDonald leaped over Klein and long-snapper Evan Deckers. Both blockers stayed low, so McDonald -- an accomplished long jumper and high jumper in high school -- went high.
He blocked the kick, lucked out with a great bounce and returned it 50 yards for a go-ahead touchdown in the final two minutes. Despite the effort, the Jets lost the game on an ensuing last-second field goal.
“I feel like it was kind of a legendary play for me, probably the best play I’ve ever made in my NFL career,” McDonald, a 2023 first-round pick, said.
It was the first time since 1997 that the Jets scored on a blocked field goal attempt.
“Our special teams coordinator [Chris] Banjo does a good job of identifying the guys that can go make a play for us,” Jets coach Aaron Glenn said. “It just so happened during scout team, Will [McDonald] wanted to rush the kick. ... Banjo and I looked at each other and said listen, ‘We might give this guy a chance,’ and we did.
“Playmakers make plays and that’s what this game is all about.”
The NFL has seen 31 blocked kicks (16 field goals, seven extra points, eight punts) through 11 weeks, the most since the 2014 season (38). It’s a steady increase from Weeks 1-11 in 2024 (27) and 2023 (18). In the first six weeks of the 2025 season alone, there were 20.
The influx in blocks begs the questions: How do NFL players prepare to block kicks? What is the preferred technique to block a kick? And are there special rules they have to follow? And why is there an increase this season?
Our NFL Nation reporters have tracked the extended hands that have blocked kicks flying over players’ heads, the near field goal attempts that ricocheted off crossbars thanks to smart defense and the punts that never went anywhere in an effort to reveal the strategy that goes into blocking a kick and why there might have been an early-season increase through 11 weeks of the regular season.
They’ve discovered the art of blocking a kick starts days before a game when scouting an opponent’s tape and then trickles into putting that practice into action.
“I know the league loves it; it means the game is more fun,” Jets veteran kicker Nick Folk said. “They don’t want run this, pass this. Special teams plays, when they happen, they’re momentum changers. They’re game changers.”