 So how do we quickly determine how long a field goal is going to be? See, field goals are tracked by the actual distance they are kicked, not from the line of scrimmage where the ball is snapped from. This is different from how quarterbacks passes are tracked from the line of scrimmage rather than from where he actually throws the ball. So how do we know which yard line we have to get to to be within our kicker's range? It's fairly simple. All we need to do is add 18 to the line of scrimmage. So eight yards for the snapback to the holder and then 10 yards for the depth of the end zone. Lots of times late in a game on TV, you'll see a big red line on the field in addition to a blue line of scrimmage and a yellow first down line. This red line is where they have to get the ball to in order to be in field goal range. It usually ends up somewhere around the 32 yard line, which as we know by adding 18 would result in a 50 yard field goal kick.