Shuffling the Numbers/Kickers

With the end of the 2008 season, we are taking a look inside the statistics generated by the league’s 32 teams over the 356-game schedule.

Today, we focus on the field goal kickers.

FIELD GOALS/OVERALL

There was a time in the NFL when if a kicker made 75 percent of his field goals, he was considered an average kicker.

Now, he’d have a hard time keeping his job.

Twenty-five years ago, the leading kicker in the 1983 NFL season was Matt Bahr of the Cleveland Browns, who made 87.5 p ercent of his field goals on the season (21 of 24).  There were a total of 10 kickers who made at least 80 percent of their field goals.

There were 24 kickers in the league that made at least 80 percent of their field goal attempts during the 2008 season. In the season before, that number was 23.

The most accurate kicker of the ’08 season was Detroit’s Jason Hanson. The veteran kicker for the team that put up the worst record in NFL history, Hanson was sensational. He missed one field goal among his 22 attempts. That was a 33-yard attempt that was blocked by Jacksonville in early November. That total included a perfect eight-for-eight from 50 yards or more. His 95.5 percent success rate; that was the best season by a kicker since Mike Vanderjagt of Indianapolis went 37 for 37 in the 2003 season.

There were six who topped 90 percent. Here are the top kickers in overall FG percentage:

 

Hanson was the only kicker to miss just one field goal. Elam and Folk missed only two. Everyone else missed at least three. The kicker who missed the most FGs was Washington’s Shaun Suisham, who hit 26 of 36 for 72.2 percent.

MUST HAVE KICKS: INSIDE THE 40

What most coaches are looking for from a kicker is this: make all the kicks inside the 40-yard line and be at least two out of three outside the 40. A kicker who posts those percentages will work a long time in the league.

On the must have kicks from inside the 40-yard line, there were six kickers who were perfect during the season.

 

THE MONEY KICKS: BETWEEN THE 40 & 50

A coach sleeps much better at night when he has a kicker that doesn’t make him think twice about going for three points when the ball is in that no man’s land for the offense, right around the 25-yard line. Right there, that’s a 43-yard FG.

Here are the best kickers between 40 and 50 yards, the ones who help their coach’s sleep patterns.

 

THE BOOMERS: SUCCESS FROM 50-PLUS

A team that has a kicker who can be successful more than 50 percent of the time when the kick is 50 yards and beyond has quite weapon. It doesn’t necessarily translate into victories, but it’s a nice security blanket. It also helps when you kick inside or at altitude. Three of the top six long distance kickers get at least eight games indoors and Denver’s kicker should always be on this list.

Here are the best kickers from 50 yards and longer.

 

THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT

The longest field goal in the NFL during the ’08 season was from 57 yards. Oakland’s Janikowski hit from that distance on October 19 against the Jets to win the game in overtime. Two months later San Diego Kaeding nailed a 57-yarder against Tampa Bay.

The shortest field goal of the season came from Philadelphia’s David Akers, who hit an 18-yard FG against Atlanta.

THE PAT KICK: HOW CAN HE MISS?

It’s basically a 21-yard field goal. In fact it’s even easier because few opponents seriously rush a point after touchdown kick.

Yet they get missed. In this past season, there were six PAT kicks that were unsuccessful. There were 1,176 PAT kicks attempted. That’s a success rate of 99.48979, or 99.5 percent.

The kickers who were credited with a missed PAT kick were: Hanson, Prater, Janikowski, Pittsburgh’s Jeff Reed, Tampa Bay’s Matt Bryant and Taylor Mehlhaff of New Orleans.