FG kicking is too easy in the NFL, time for changes

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

The Pussification of Football continues.

Want to lower the accuracy numbers? Let gunners tee off on kickers. We'll see how well they follow through on a long range kick when a safety breaks free and can actually accelerate toward the kicker without fear of a penalty when he hits the kickers leg on the follow through.

Field Goals are being kicked with extremely high accuracy, because they are being performed against a skeleton. It is basically a free kick. Nose guards just stand up and wait for the kick these days.

Move the field goal back? Shrink it? Nice ideas for a year or two before these kickers, who aren't facing any pressure, get used to the new dimensions and are able to do it in different environments.

[ram29jackson]

no more bare foot kickers ?

And yet of all these examples, the one that still seems most prescient is the bygone period of barefoot kicking. It was a popular innovation that never made any sense to anyone. Even when Franklin nailed a 59-yard moon shot in 1979, he looked like an absurd hillbilly. But you know what? Nobody cared. It was (ahem) the "style of the time." Somebody had to try something, even if no one knew why. And that's another reason football is so amazingly, profoundly, unilaterally popular: We can all relate to the reality of its collective confusion. I mean, how many things do you do at your job simply because that's just what people with your job always do? How often do you find yourself following a trend you don't care about at all? How many people trust themselves more than they trust other people? At the end of the day, we're all just looking around and guessing how to live. And if that process convinces us to fill out TPS reports and listen to quasi-Queen albums from My Chemical Romance and drink bottled water,3 I suppose briefly kicking field goals without shoes isn't so surprising.

[dave]

So when do we make Peyton Manning have to throw left handed because he's throwing touchdown passes too easily?

IMO, the NFL has made passing way too easy. I would eliminate the 5-yard rule. Contact between WR and DB like the 70s. DBs are completely helpless in today's game vs. the Wes Welker types. When a guy with a surgically repaired neck in his late 30s is setting records, something is wrong. When a guy on an average team (Matthew Stafford) passes for 5,000-plus yards and everyone yawns, something is wrong.
I absolutely agree with the defenseless receiver rules, but contact beyond five yards ... as long as it's clean, it would make for more legit pass stats.
Dan Marino, in his prime, would pass for 7,000 yards in 2013.

[Houston]

No he wouldn't.

[wr50l]

Make the goal posts higher and narrower ... I'm on board. I'm also on board with replacing extra points in some way. I don't think there is anything less exciting in the game than an extra point attempt; even when they miss I'm not interested because I'm not watching.

Of course as a gambler I love all these auto 3 pointers.

[NAHSTE]

Serious suggestion - remove the specialization of the position (won't happen because players' union won't let them take r jerbs, but I digress) by only allowing 1 roster spot for kicking/punting. Make the same sumbitch do both. Back in the day, PATs were being kicked by an actual player. Didn't have time for all that kicking practice what with being a real football player and all.

[Point Blank]

Tucker was perfect in a dome, which majority of kickers should be. If he did that in the elements, let's say a windy day at Soldier Field then I'd be more surprised. This thread is silly.

[ram29jackson]

Serious suggestion - remove the specialization of the position (won't happen because player's union won't let them take r jerbs, but I digress) by only allowing 1 roster spot for kicking/punting. Make the same sumbitch do both. Back in the day, PATs were being kicked by an actual player. Didn't have time for all that kicking practice what with being a real football player and all.

multi tasking players died with straight forward kicking

Jerry Kramer- Right Guard

[bucky]

Serious suggestion - remove the specialization of the position (won't happen because players' union won't let them take r jerbs, but I digress) by only allowing 1 roster spot for kicking/punting. Make the same sumbitch do both. Back in the day, PATs were being kicked by an actual player. Didn't have time for all that kicking practice what with being a real football player and all.

I don't think the NFL has any restrictions on roster positions. As far as I know, a team could be completely made up of RG's. There is nothing keeping a RG from playing CB other than it's plain retarded. But no NFL rules stating such. I don't see the NFL forcing 1 player to kick both FG's and Punts. Right now, your center could punt and kick FG's. Seems to me like the NFL would have to reduce the roster size to reduce the specialization. But that would go against player safety and NFLPA.

On a more ridiculous note that everybody is welcome to ignore. Here is my rams contribution. Just have the goal posts move up/down, side to side, and rotate like they do at mini put golf. Then the snap and kick of the ball would have to be timed just right.

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

No he wouldn't.

In a dome , with the right WRs he could crack 6k easy. Hed be by far the best arm and pure passer in the league. Brady/Manning are cream of the crop and arent in his league with there arm strength/accuracy.

[ram29jackson]

On a more ridiculous note that everybody is welcome to ignore. Here is my rams contribution. Just have the goal posts move up/down, side to side, and rotate like they do at mini put golf. Then the snap and kick of the ball would have to be timed just right.

nope, that's purely your contribution/idea

[Warner2BruceTD]

Tucker was perfect in a dome, which majority of kickers should be. If he did that in the elements, let's say a windy day at Soldier Field then I'd be more surprised. This thread is silly.

Does the league plan on eliminating domes anytime soon?

Tucker has made 33 in a row. I don't care where he's kicking. That's fantastic.

Also, my argument isn't even the idea that the kickers are too good now (even though most are), my argument is that I can see where this is going, and within a few years just about every kicker in the league is going to be at the Tucker/Walsh/Zuerlein level. Virtually every new kicker that comes into the league the last two years or so has been this new breed of super kicker. Zuerlein is 22 for 24. Tucker has hit 33 straight. Walsh is inhuman. Prater broke the record. THESE GUYS DO NOT MISS.

Kickers have gotten slightly better every year since forever, but these new kickers are improving at an accelerated rate. When that happens, in any sport, changes are made. Somebody mentioned the three point line in basketball. CBB players were drilling them at around 50% with the old line, so they moved it back. It will move back again as the players evolve. I'm not sure why some of you think the idea of changing the goal posts in some manner is some crazy, outlandish idea. Sports change all of the time, whether its the three point line, the raised/lowered mound in baseball, moving the kickoff line back in the NFL 20 years ago (before they moved it up again recently), etc.

[NAHSTE]

This has turned into a fun and thought provoking topic. I think I do support narrower uprights, because it makes games more unpredictable and that is fun. Sports are less fun when the action feels scripted.

One obstacle - this change would have to be implemented in college too. Goalposts are expensive and neutral site venues won't want to keep both pairs.

[dell71]

Does the league plan on eliminating domes anytime soon?

Tucker has made 33 in a row. I don't care where he's kicking. That's fantastic.

Also, my argument isn't even the idea that the kickers are too good now (even though most are), my argument is that I can see where this is going, and within a few years just about every kicker in the league is going to be at the Tucker/Walsh/Zuerlein level. Virtually every new kicker that comes into the league the last two years or so has been this new breed of super kicker. Zuerlein is 22 for 24. Tucker has hit 33 straight. Walsh is inhuman. Prater broke the record. THESE GUYS DO NOT MISS.

Kickers have gotten slightly better every year since forever, but these new kickers are improving at an accelerated rate. When that happens, in any sport, changes are made. Somebody mentioned the three point line in basketball. CBB players were drilling them at around 50% with the old line, so they moved it back. It will move back again as the players evolve. I'm not sure why some of you think the idea of changing the goal posts in some manner is some crazy, outlandish idea. Sports change all of the time, whether its the three point line, the raised/lowered mound in baseball, moving the kickoff line back in the NFL 20 years ago (before they moved it up again recently), etc.

This makes sense in a vacuum. My thing is not that the NFL can't change, but everything they have done lends itself to the idea that they won't.

[Tailback U]

The NFL as a whole is better than ever before. Quarterbacks have recently broken yardage, completion, and touchdown passing records.

Two running backs have ran for over 2k yards in the last 7 years. Two receivers have scored over 20 touchdowns in recent years and the season record for receiving yards has also been broken.

Kickers are scoring more points and hitting field goals more accurately.

This is the new NFL. Every position has evolved, not just kicking. For the longest time, people complained about how hard it is to find a competent kicker. Now teams are getting them and people are starting to complain that kicking is too easy.

BTW, Mike Vanderjagt has the record with 42 consecutive field goals made for the 2002-2004 Colts.