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Jacksonville's Josh Scobee kicks a 54-yard field goal against Baltimore last month. He made a 59-yarder last season. (Phil Sears / US Presswire) |
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This NFL season is becoming a feat of the feet.
Citing statistics from Elias Sports Bureau, the New York Times reported last week that kickers had made 45 field goals of 50 yards or longer through the first eight weeks of the season, a torrid pace. The NFL season record is 66 of those kicks, set in 2008.
Through Week 8 of that record-setting season, 32 of those kicks had been made. So that mark looks as if it will be easily eclipsed -- although the pace probably will cool as the weather around the country takes a turn for the worse.
"Just like athletes at other positions, kickers are evolving," former NFL kicker Michael Husted said.
"When I was growing up and coming out of high school, there were hardly any kicking coaches or camps you could go to. Now, there are so many personal kicking coaches out there, kicking camps, punting camps, even long-snapping camps."
Husted is founder and president of National Camp Series, which prepares and showcases specialists for college football.
This season, Oakland's Sebastian Janikowski and Jacksonville's Josh Scobee have each made five field goals of at least 50 yards. By comparison, Jan Stenerud, the only pure kicker in the Hall of Fame, made just 17 of 64 kicks of that distance over the course of his 19-year career.
"The expectation has changed in the league," Detroit kicker Jason Hanson told the New York Times. "If they put you out there, you're supposed to make it. All of a sudden, a 48-yarder has become like from 32."
Youth served
Rookie linebackers Von Miller of Denver and Aldon Smith of San Francisco are tied among first-year players with 6 1/2 sacks each. That's only slightly off the pace Jevon Kearse set in 1999, when he established the rookie record with 14 1/2 sacks.
The highest sack totals by rookies (since 1982), according to the NFL (*projected):
PLAYER TEAM YEAR No.
Jevon Kearse Tennessee 1999 14.5
Dwight Freeney Indianapolis 2002 13
Leslie O'Neal San Diego 1986 12.5
Simeon Rice Arizona 1996 12.5
Von Miller Denver 2011 13*
Aldon Smith San Francisco 2011 13*
Revving up
Citing statistics from Elias Sports Bureau, the New York Times reported last week that kickers had made 45 field goals of 50 yards or longer through the first eight weeks of the season, a torrid pace. The NFL season record is 66 of those kicks, set in 2008.
Through Week 8 of that record-setting season, 32 of those kicks had been made. So that mark looks as if it will be easily eclipsed -- although the pace probably will cool as the weather around the country takes a turn for the worse.
"Just like athletes at other positions, kickers are evolving," former NFL kicker Michael Husted said.
"When I was growing up and coming out of high school, there were hardly any kicking coaches or camps you could go to. Now, there are so many personal kicking coaches out there, kicking camps, punting camps, even long-snapping camps."
Husted is founder and president of National Camp Series, which prepares and showcases specialists for college football.
This season, Oakland's Sebastian Janikowski and Jacksonville's Josh Scobee have each made five field goals of at least 50 yards. By comparison, Jan Stenerud, the only pure kicker in the Hall of Fame, made just 17 of 64 kicks of that distance over the course of his 19-year career.
"The expectation has changed in the league," Detroit kicker Jason Hanson told the New York Times. "If they put you out there, you're supposed to make it. All of a sudden, a 48-yarder has become like from 32."
Youth served
Rookie linebackers Von Miller of Denver and Aldon Smith of San Francisco are tied among first-year players with 6 1/2 sacks each. That's only slightly off the pace Jevon Kearse set in 1999, when he established the rookie record with 14 1/2 sacks.
The highest sack totals by rookies (since 1982), according to the NFL (*projected):
PLAYER TEAM YEAR No.
Jevon Kearse Tennessee 1999 14.5
Dwight Freeney Indianapolis 2002 13
Leslie O'Neal San Diego 1986 12.5
Simeon Rice Arizona 1996 12.5
Von Miller Denver 2011 13*
Aldon Smith San Francisco 2011 13*
Revving up
