Ask most fans and they’ll probably tell you that NFL teams are only as good as their coaches and quarterbacks. I’m not here to argue that point. Both contribute greatly to the success of any team. However, I would like you to take a couple minutes to think about how football games are won and lost. It’s all about points scored. This article focuses on a specific type of football player that on any given Sunday will actually score more of the points needed to win games than the quarterback (who usually relies on others, receivers or running backs, to actually get the ball into the endzone) or coaches who never personally score any points for their teams.
I was struck recently while attending an open practice of the New York Jets, who happen to practice at the college where I teach, that things really haven’t changed all that much in football over the years. On this bright Sunday morning, thousands of fans had come to watch the Jets go through their morning practice. While players and coaches went about their business, a small group of “players” seemed exiled to a part of the practice field that no one was watching. In fact, with the exception of kids who might “ooh and aah” at some of the things they can do with a football, almost all of the adult fans were much more interested in trying to catch a glimpse of what the real players were doing a football field away.
Who made up this lonely group? You know the ones, they’re the players that look like someone’s little brother got all dressed up in his football uniform and then just wandered onto the field with the real players. These guys tend to have more eccentric practices before performing than Rain Man, their uniforms almost never get dirty, they rarely play more than a handful of downs, yet they are often the guys who determine the outcome of a game. Yep, they are NFL kickers. They are a “special” group in every sense of the word.
I believe that those “special” players represent possibly the most important, yet under-appreciated men on any NFL team. Now before you dismiss this as just another “geek with a Ph.D.” who doesn’t have a clue about what “real” football is about, and start searching for another article to read on this site, hear me out.
I’m a numbers guy. The easiest numbers to understand related to football are posted for all to see at the end of the game. The team with the biggest number of points at the end of the game is the winner. Guess who contributes more of those points than any other player on the field? Yep, it’s that quirky kicker. In fact, of the top 50 scorers in NFL history, 47 are kickers! Every year NFL teams average about 22 points per game and every year most of the top point scorers in the league are place kickers. In 2011 the league’s leading scorer was kicker David Aker of the 49ers. He scored 166 points in 18 games, averaging 9.22 points/game. Those 9.22 points would make up about 42% of the average team’s weekly total.
What does it take to be a successful kicker? First, you need a fast strong kicking leg that is consistently accurate from about 20 to as much as 60 yards. Second, you have to be fearless and focused to be able to direct a football up over a crashing tidal wave of opposing players, judging how to adjust your kick based on whether kicking from the center, right or left hash marks, while possibly factoring in the elements (wind, rain, snow), relying on your holder to have the ball in the exact orientation necessary for you to do your job in the 0.02 of a second you actually have your foot in contact with the ball. Third, you have to have a short memory, since no one cares about the last kick you made, the only one that matters is the one you are about to attempt. Easy!
Oh, about that accuracy thing. For an extra point, in perfect weather conditions and perfect placement directly in front of the goal post, you can miss-direct the ball by as much as 8.7 degrees and still make the kick. Any directional mistake greater than 2.9 degree will cause you to miss a kick if attempted from midfield.
If you are still not impressed with the skill needed to be a kicker, try it for yourself. If you have no trouble making all of the kicks required by a professional kicker, quit reading this article and get yourself an agent!
