Kicked Out

I recently posted a comment on the nfluk website asking people what aspects of the NFL annoyed them.  One of the common threads in a lot of responses was kicking.  Some didn't like the kick off process, some didn't like the ease of extra points and some didn't like the importance given to kicking in the league.  So let's make kicking the basis for the next elimination.

Miami's  Dan Carpenter

The closest "other sport" equivalent of an NFL kicker is a rugby place kicker, but there are still many differences.  The rugby kicker has to attempt kicks from narrower angles, whereas it is always a straight kick for the NFL player.  However, the rugby player can take as long as he likes to prepare for his attempt.  The NFL kicker has to do it all in a couple of seconds and is reliant on the center getting the ball back to holder, and then the holder setting the ball up in time for the kick to occur before the defending team can block the kick.  He is also reliant on his blockers stopping the defense getting close to the ball before he kicks it.  There are more factors to consider and overall it's such a different discipline that any debate as to which sport has the most skilled kickers is largely irrelevant.

Like it or not, kicking is a key element in winning NFL matches. With so many games being settled by less than 5 points, the difference between winning or losing can often be the ability of your kicker to plant the ball through the posts.

A kicker in the NFL has a strange existence.  He spends the majority of the match sitting at the end of the team bench with the punter, they don't even look like they are part of the team and rarely interact with the other players during a match.  The kicker occasionally gets up to blast some balls into a small net, like a 5 year old playing in his back garden.  His only match action is to trot on occasionally to take a kick.  Often the kick is just an extra point - a simple chip shot from the 3 yard line - or a short, 3 point, field goal.  Over the course of the 2011 NFL season only 7 extra point kicks were missed, this equates to over 99% being made - so it's hardly something to celebrate!  Generally speaking, all kickers make the vast majority of these kicks, but there are 2 elements of kicking that separate the elite from the also rans.

Firstly, there are the longer, more difficult kicks.  Some kickers will have a "stronger leg" than others and be able to make kicks over 50 yards. Some can even make kicks over 60 yards.  Sebastian Janikowski of Oakland made a kick of 63 yards this season.  The equivalent of kicking a penalty in rugby from 13 yards inside your own half!  Having a strong kicker, means the team can attempt long range field goals rather than just punting the ball back to the opposition, although sometimes greater leg strength can be to the detriment of accuracy.

Vinatieri v Oakland. Easy huh?!

The term "clutch" was alien to me before I became an NFL fan, but it is relevant to so many sports.  It essential means "the abilty to perform under extreme pressure".  So, it could apply to a footballer in a penalty shootout, a batsman needing 4 to win from the last ball, a tennis playing serving at break point, a golfer with a putt to win a tournament.  The ability to be "clutch" is one of the key things that separates great sportsmen from the rest.  Adam Vinatieri of the Colts is widely regarded as being one of the best clutch kickers in the history of the NFL - he has kicked game winners in 2 SuperBowls and also landed arguably the most difficult clutch kick off all time, from 45 yards in the middle of a snow storm in the 2001 play offs.

It's impossible to conclusively say who is the best and worst kicker in the league.  But as ever, the NFL has a multitude of stats on the matter.  I've decided to keep it simple and just look at the overall percentage of kicks made and eliminate the team with the worst record.  I'm only including teams 1st choice kickers, so the likes of Dave Rayner of Buffalo are excluded, as whilst he had the worst percentage in the league he only played when 1st choice kicker Ryan Lindell was injured.

GaNOOOOOOO

Bottom of the list is Shaum Suisham of the long eliminated Steelers. He landed just 74% of his kicks during the season.  2nd is the also eliminated Josh Brown of the Rams on 75%.  Which leaves us with the 3rd placed Graham Gano of the Washington Redskins.  Gano missed 10 field goals in 2011 giving him a 76% success rate. In Gano's defence, 5 of his misses were due to blocks so some of the blame has to go to his colleagues, but seeing as I'm eliminating a team then I'm fine with that.

I have to admit, Washington were one of the "forgotten" teams of my search, they hadn't come close to an elimination, but equally hadn't come out on top of any stats.  So, I won't be losing any sleep over the elimination.  They are another of the teams with problems at quarterback and until that is resolved it's very hard to see them progressing to the playoffs.

I'm now down to 14 teams:
Atlanta, Seattle, Carolina, Denver, Green Bay, San Francisco, New York Jets, Tennessee, Houston, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Detroit