….Going for it on 4th down. 65 yard field goals..
NFL kickers are doing outstandingly well this season, with a few standouts making record-setting and herculean field goals. The rest of the crop also became automatic at increasingly fearsome distances. For instance, a quarter century ago the average kicker made 70 percent of kicks from 40 to 49 yards, a figure that today stands at 84 percent of kicks. Today, kickers are outperforming the 25-year baseline by 6.1 percent when it comes to field goal percentage, and have even began to outperform in “clutch” situations (field goals to tie or take the lead in the final 2 minutes of regulation or overtime) when they previously underperformed during those high-pressure situations.
Neil Paine, Neil’s Substack
Comments