NFL rules question

Maybe this has been addressed previously on one of the long NFL threads, but if so I missed it and I'm sorry for the D-B.

When did the NFL change the rule that on a missed FG the defending team takes over at the point of the kick, not the line of scrimmage?

I heard an announcer talking about it on the Jets-Colts game several weeks ago and thought he had to have missed the LOS, but then yesterday after the missed FG the Saints took over at the 42, not the 35.

I know it's not that way in college or high school, or at least hasn't been historically

 

Last century.

 

Wow. Guess it's been a long time since I paid attention to an NFL game. That's essentially a 7-yard penalty for missing a FG.

 

Could be wrong, but I thought it was one of the rule changes that came in the same year as the 2-pt conversion was added, so yeah, that would be around 1994-95.

 

It's meant to discourage long field-goal attempts but then again what coach is going for it on 4th and 7 at the opponent's 40? Instead, you get pooch punts. Yay.

 

1994.

Under the change the opposing team takes position at the line of scrimmage, unless the kick was attempted from inside the 20.

It's affected games since then because a lot of teams leading in the final minutes are too worried about the ramifications of a miss, and instead opt for the field position and punt.

 

Except they don't. They take possession at the point of the kick, not the LOS. That's completely different from college.