God I hope Cincy goes 0-16. For the lulz.
God I hope Cincy goes 0-16. For the lulz.
2 questions.
1) Do you think kickers are getting worse? Seems like they obviously are but maybe I’m wrong.
2) If yes, why would that be? Or how?
Last edited by Hugh; 11-19-2019 at 06:24 PM.
Originally Posted by Hulky
Seems like they're getting worse from shorter ranges, not longer. Maybe they're practicing boomer field goals too much, or maybe they're just a bunch of snowflake pussies who crumble under pressure like the rest of us filthy millennials
Well the extra point rule change a few years ago made the distance increase a little, so it's a little harder. I don't think in general kickers are missing that much more. Like the elite accuracy guys like Justin Tucker and Robbie Gould are still who they were minus Gould being injured but last few years.
Steven Hauschka has kinda fallen off from his time in Seattle to his time in Buffalo but like it's his 50+ yard attempts that have become ass. Being in Buffalo and being older kinda explains that a bit.
Maybe kickers in general are a bit worse but like the really fucking good ones are so old now like a Vinatieri kinda sucks this year but he is like 45 years old.
Being a kicker is less about ability than mentality.
You come on the field like, a few times a game maybe. Almost every time you do is a high pressure moment. One fuckup and people call for your head. But if you make 10 in a row, rarely are your praises sung. I think the freebie extra points gave kickers more confidence, and moving it back leading to more misses is a psychological struggle on actual field goal attempts.
I also think that the general NFL coaching body is "old school" and don't know the right way to coach a kicker. Sure, they know how to tell them the right form and whatever. But the mental aspect of the kicking game is unlike any other position. You tell a QB to have a short memory, but that's easier because even if they throw a pick, they're probably gonna get like 15-20 more pass attempts in the game after that. A kicker might miss one and not attempt another kick til next week, so it lingers. Combine this with the longer XP, and also a higher expectation for kickers. I think more is expected now since you have guys drilling 60 yarders sometimes, that they should be making 50s consistently. I feel like back in the day (well hey I didn't watch football super long ago), if you made a 46 yarder you done damn good.
Also, coaches tend to lean on their kickers to bail them out in tough situations. Instead of taking a risk and trying to move the ball closer, a lot of coaches will play towards that 50+ yard field goal at the end of a game. Like, oh all we have to do is reach the 35 and we're in field goal range, so that's all we're going to shoot for, then it's your fault if you don't make a pressure kick from the edge of your range. And if you miss a couple of those we're going to cut you.
Yeah I thought about something like this after I made the post.
Commentators talk like this and I think coaches share the mindset "well if we go for it on 4th down and don't get it we get 0 points, but we can just take the 3." As if the 3 is automatic.
Also, pertinent article I saw a few days ago about NFL kicking:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...re-struggling/
This says field goal rate is at its lowest since 2003. And even the PAT is at its lowest success rate since the spot was moved back in 2015.
Let's just get rid of kicking.
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