NFL Kicking Has Never Been Better

“Double doink!” were the words uttered by NBC Football announcer’s, Cris Collinsworth’s nasally, Southern accent, as Codey Parkey, the former place-kicker of the Chicago Bears, missed a 2018 game winning NFC wild-card playoff game field goal. Just as Collinsworth so eloquently described, it wasn’t just a missed field goal, it was the fact the ball bounced off both the goal post’s left upright and its crossbar. Parkey isn’t the only kicker in recent memory to have misfortune when toe meets leather. Blair Walsh, the former Minnesota Viking place-kicker, failed to make a game winning 27-yard field goal against the Seattle Seahawks in the 2016 NFC wild-card game. Walsh was a first-team All-Pro in 2012, and prior to the missed game winning field goal, he was three for three in that playoff game. Parkey was named to the 2015 NFL Pro Bowl (albeit as a replacement for Stephen Gostkowski, legendary place-kicker for the New England Patriots, who was involved with the Super Bowl and so could not attend the Pro Bowl).

The quote, “life turns on a dime” couldn’t be more appropriate for the shelf life of an NFL kicker. That is why The Cornercube has decided to dive into an investigative journalism piece to determine if NFL field kicking (not extra point kicking. We have only so many people on the investigative journalism team), has become worse over the years. The answer is that it has not, and we have the stats to prove it!

 

You might be thinking, “When did The Cornercube afford Excel?”  The short answer is we finally ponied up and pirated a version of Microsoft Office! Enough of our gloating, it’s time to get back to the analytics.

As one can see the data shows that the percentage of field goals being made has steadily increased, even as the number of attempts has doubled since the 1960’s average. In the 2010 decade, which is not fully complete, there is a record completion percentage of nearly 85%.  In other words, people, The Cornercube has declared the NFL to be in an era of field goal dominance! In the NFL there have only been 20 field goals made from at least 60 yards and 13 of those 20 were made in the 2010 decade. This includes the longest field goal made in NFL history when in 2013 Matt Prater, then the place-kicker of the Denver Broncos, bombed a 63 yarder through the uprights.

So what has caused this glorious era to ignite, when in the 1960’s just over half of all field goals were made? There are two reasons. The first is technique and the second is football obsession.

In the 1960’s Pete Gogolak, a Hungarian-born place-kicker (please do not get upset I stated his nationality because it will come in handy later) revolutionized the way the oblong shaped ball was kicked. Prior to Gogolak, all place-kickers approached the ball straight on, but with Pete’s European soccer background he decided that by kicking the ball at an angle could cover more distance than the traditional style of place-kicking. In 1964 Pete played for the Buffalo Bills and the “soccer-style” place- kick was adopted by the NFL. By the late 1970’s the soccer-style kick was used around the entire NFL. So with the place-kicker’s field goal range extended due to a technique change, the place-kickers were able to attempt more kicks and therefore make more kicks.

However, the most recent change to why place-kicking has vastly improved over time is because America has slowly become a nation that eats, sleeps, and breathes football. In a 2014 New York Times article by Joe Lemire, he stated, “[w]hile there have been changes in technique . . . the primary impetus for improvement has been more dynamic training and specialization, often at a younger age.” Lemire goes on to describe how in 1995 only about a dozen kickers and punters had college football scholarships, but now nearly all Division I college football programs offer scholarships to specialists. There are even websites, such as ProKicker.com, in which a person can find the nearest kicking, punting, or even long snapping camp by state (Tennessee has 8 kicking camps scheduled from 2019-2020. That’s more than football crazy Texas or Ohio). There are even areas in which a person can find, by state, private instruction on how to kick, punt, or long snap a football (I guess they assume you’re an idiot, if you need private lessons on how to be a holder).

So, if America is in the glory days of place kicking, why are people claiming that there seems to be more issues than usual with kickers? There are two reasons for such a mentality. First, with the advancement of the internet, more people having access to television and various streaming devices, it causes more eyeballs to be able to watch more games. Therefore, when a person misses a game winning kick, more people are able to see the miss and, in turn, reprimand that kicker. The second reason is that Americans have gotten comfortable with the 85% field goal make percentage. Hence, there is even less room for error. In other words, imagine if the average was just over half, like in the ‘60s or even ‘70s.  A missed field goal wouldn’t be unusual, and a below average kicker would be considered to be one who missed more than half of his field goals.

Place-kickers have “placed” themselves in a paradox. Every time they get better, and their attempt percentage goes up, their room for error decreases. In a weird sense it would incentivize all current kickers to teach kids how to kick incorrectly so the efficiency decreases and the room for error increases. In other words, place-kickers who lose their jobs should just blame the old Hungarian – Pete Gogolak!