Have NFL kickers gotten so good a rule change is in order?

On Sept. 28, 2008, then Oakland Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin infamously sent out Sebastian Janikowski to try a 76-yard field goal. It fell short by almost 20 yards and the NFL world laughed, contributing to Al Davis’ decision to fire Kiffin just two days later.

Sixteen years later, Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy initially wanted Brandon Aubrey to attempt a 71-yarder just before halftime of the team’s season opener two Sundays ago. When McCarthy ultimately decided it was too risky, the NFL world didn’t laugh. Rather, it screamed for him to reconsider.

Those contrasting reactions reflect how ridiculously good NFL kickers have gotten over the past decade or two. They’re now hitting long-distance field goals with the ease of Steph Curry sinking an impossibly deep 3-pointer or Scottie Scheffler bombing a 300-yard drive down a fairway.

Thirty-nine times during the first two weeks of the 2024-25 season, NFL kickers have lined up to try a field goal from 50-plus yards. They’ve converted all but four of those kicks, with the most accurate kicker in NFL history, Justin Tucker, improbably responsible for two of the misses.

Never before have NFL kickers hit 35 field goals from 50 yards or beyond in a two-week period. As recently as 2006, they made only 40 field goals from that distance in an entire season.

Never before have NFL kickers made 89.7% of their 50-plus-yard field goals during the opening two weeks of the season. As recently as 2007, the league’s kickers missed more field goal tries than they made from 50 yards and beyond.

Yes, kicking stats tend to wane over the course of a season as the weather turns blustery and field conditions worsen, but there’s reason to expect this trend to have staying power. Many NFL coaches appear to trust modern kickers from distances they once would have deemed too big a gamble. And with the NFL’s new touchback rule giving the receiving team the ball at its own 30-yard line, teams need only a single explosive play…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/have-nfl-kickers-gotten-so-good-a-rule-change-is-in-order-204633916.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-09-18 20:46:33

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