This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! It’s free kick Friday. While You Were Sleeping: Little-used rule boosts Chargers Last night’s 34-27 Chargers win over the Broncos featured two ingredients for a great football game:  1.

This is huge in terms of the AFC playoff picture. The Broncos and Chargers are the #6 and #7 seeds, respectively. While Los Angeles has a two-game lead with three games remaining for the last playoff spot,

This is a must-win game for the Chargers as they try to keep pace with the Broncos in the AFC playoff race. Los Angeles is currently the seventh seed with an 8-6 record. However,

The Los Angeles Chargers took advantage of one of the most obscure rules in the NFL rule book on Thursday night when they successfully converted a fair-catch free kick during their 34-27 win over the Denver Broncos.

Chargers' Cameron Dicker made a rare fair-catch free-kick field goal from 57 yards out, the longest in NFL history. Only seven free kicks have been successful in the league.

Free-kicks are rare in the NFL. How are they different from field goals? Check out the rules behind this unique play now.