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

[Warner2BruceTD]

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.

barf.

[ram29jackson]

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.

LOL you don't break records that easily unless everyone sucks...its evolved into suckness not betterness LOL

records and big stats don't necessarily prove better play.

[NAHSTE]

barf.

When everyone is good, nobody is good.

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

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.

No the positions have not evolved. Not a single player today is in anyway more skilled then someone from 10-15 years ago. There may be some exceptions with kickers but from top to bottom including kickers the rule changes and field conditions have dramatically changed the way the game is played. There has been no evolution at any skill position.

[ram29jackson]

No the positions have not evolved. Not a single player today is in anyway more skilled then someone from 10-15 years ago. There may be some exceptions with kickers but from top to bottom including kickers the rule changes and field conditions have dramatically changed the way the game is played. There has been no evolution at any skill position.

yep, you've said that before. Players have gotten a little fatter, a little bigger but its the same sport in principle and execution since the late 60s. ...and then stickum was banned because Lester Hayes bathed in it and they just invented sticky gloves anyway....

[ram29jackson]

Tom Dempsey rule
Dempsey set an NFL record when he booted a 63-yard field goal in 1970. And booted is the proper adjective -- Dempsey was born without toes and his shoe was flattened into a golf club, which gave him an unfair advantage. Though, you might say Sebastian Janikowski is getting an unfair advantage from the chili cheese fries he eats, giving him added girth. But he's still not swinging a club.

Bronko Nagurski rule
Quarterbacks were only allowed to throw a forward pass from five yards behind the line of scrimmage in 1932. The Portsmouth Spartans (eventual Detroit Lions) coach that year complained Nagurski wasn't far enough back from the line of scrimmage as he threw passes during the 1932 NFL Championship Game. The refs allowed Nagurski's touchdown to Red Grange stand as the Bears went on to win. The following year, the league changed the rule to allow all passes from behind the line of scrimmage.

[ram29jackson]

dumb rule change that needs to be altered again

Ken Stabler rule
The famed "Holy Roller" spawned this rule. With the Raiders trailing in the final seconds at San Diego in 1978, Stabler was scrambling in the pocket and instead of taking the sack on fourth down he "accidentally" fumbled forward. The ball was subsequently kicked by Pete Banaszak, and then kicked again by Dave Casper, who recovered the ball in the end zone for the win. Just watch the play.

Does that noise seem like it should be legal? Well, the league thought not.

The Stabler rule prohibits an offensive player other than the player who fumbled the ball from recovering or advancing a fumble on fourth down or on any down in the final two minutes of a half. And if another player recovers, the ball reverts to the original spot of the fumble.

Oh, and Stabler admitted he fumbled it on purpose. Of course he did. Seriously, watch the play. Who doesn't think that was on purpose? Other than the referee Jerry Markbreit.

[kmanharris]

lol @ that being a dumb rule.

[ram29jackson]

lol @ that being a dumb rule.

yes, its control freakishness gone wild. it assumes all fourth down fumbles are on purpose and must be punished

[kmanharris]

yes, its control freakishness gone wild. it assumes all fourth down fumbles are on purpose and must be punished

No. It stops teams from doing exactly what occurred before the rule was in place.

[ram29jackson]

No. It stops teams from doing exactly what occurred before the rule was in place.

no, it takes away the spontaneity of an actual fumble and awards the other team based on a bias assumption

[Hasselbeck]

No the positions have not evolved. Not a single player today is in anyway more skilled then someone from 10-15 years ago. There may be some exceptions with kickers but from top to bottom including kickers the rule changes and field conditions have dramatically changed the way the game is played. There has been no evolution at any skill position.

Every skill player in the game is bigger, faster, stronger (without trying to sound like a Daft Punk beat) than they were 15-20 years ago. There were no Calvin Johnson/Jimmy Graham type players in the 80's ..

There is also precedence for the NFL modifying kicking rules to make kicks somewhat more challenging. The inclusion of the "K" ball was brought in to try and make it a little more difficult to work the ball in such a manner where it was easier to kick. Obviously the new age of kicking/special teams coaching has figured out that detail already because kickers are a lot more automatic now than they were in years past. Seahawks K Steven Hauschka, for example, has only missed 4 kicks in his last 2 seasons.. 2 of them were blocked, the other was from 51 at Candlestick and 61 at Ford Field (of which it hit the crossbar).

Don't think anything is happening within 2 years, but 5-10 years from now when there is a kicker booming kicks from 70? I'm sure.

[ram29jackson]

Every skill player in the game is bigger, faster, stronger (without trying to sound like a Daft Punk beat) than they were 15-20 years ago. There were no Calvin Johnson/Jimmy Graham type players in the 80's ..

bigger= some not much...stronger/faster = no..40 times haven't changed.. players at skill positions have been around 6 ft tall and 200 pounds for 40 years.

Calvin Johnson/Jimmy Graham type players in the 80's

pure baloney.

[Hasselbeck]

bigger= some not much...stronger/faster = no..40 times haven't changed.. players at skill positions have been around 6 ft tall and 200 pounds for 40 years.




pure baloney.

Name some.

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

Every skill player in the game is bigger, faster, stronger (without trying to sound like a Daft Punk beat) than they were 15-20 years ago. There were no Calvin Johnson/Jimmy Graham type players in the 80's ..

lulz. A handful of tight ends who dont get jammed at the line and cant block for shit being slightly taller than the ones in previous years means everyone in the game is bigger stronger faster.
John Ogden , Larry Allen ,and Deion Sanders are giggling at this post. Randy Moss > Calvin Johnson so yeah theirs that also.

Blocking is average at best.... Tackling and Coverage skills are all terrible in todays game. Route running is sloppy as shit as half of NFL plays should be categorized as "broken" plays as QBs just sit in the pocket as 4-5 targets run crossing routes and deep ins until someone comes free. The FB position is non existent , TE are just large slot WRs .DE/OLB skills have declined as they no longer have to worry about the run and just speed rush to the outside.
The average WR/CB/RB/QB/T/Pass Rusher is no different than 15 years ago thinking otherwise is silly and purposely ignoring the dramatic effect rule changes has had.

The only thing that has improved is QBs handling of the LOS . The Manning effect has more QBs calling out blocking assignments and adjusting plays than before.