In a CFL game yesterday, Paul McCallum punted a 62 yard field goal for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a new CFL record. 
(The Riders beat the Esks: 12-3 :D. But they’re out of the play-offs 
)
I’m curious whether that field goal would stand out in the NFL. Any idea what the record for longest field goal in the NFL would be?
My BF says 63 yards in NFL, and it’s been done twice. No cite, sorry. But an expert with links will be along shortly…
Did he really “punt” a 62-yard field goal? Now THAT is impressive!
Didn’t think anybody’d catch it, did you?
Tom Dempsey, for the Saints, kicked the original 63-yarder. I forget the year.
Jason Elam recently matched the distance in Mile High Stadium.
You can look up the dates, if you desire.
I’m certainly no expert with links, Boscibo, but your BF is right, link from the NFL website here, about 2/3 of the way down the page.
I’m confident that Jason Elam could break his own record, given the right chance. He almost did it once already this year. Can’t remember which game though. Which is odd, because I’ve only seen one game this whole year…
[sigh] Preview is my friend, preview is my friend, preview is my friend…
Thanks for the info, everyone. Poor Paul - 2 more yards and he’d be the leader.
Dempsey kicked his record FG in 1969. It’s even more remarkable when you note that he was born with a defect in his kicking foot. You can see a pretty good shot of his foot here .
And Dempsey’s field goal was at the end of the game to win it for the Saints.
Elam’s came at the end of the first half.
Jason Hanson could be another contender. He holds the NCAA record for longest field goal without a tee and I believe that is 63 yards also. And Hanson has the advantage of kicking indoors. His career best in the NFL is 56 yards.
Any attempt at a field goal of over 60 yards would likely be at the end of a half since missed field goals in the NFL are returned to spot of the kick.
McCallum’s 62 yarder was at the end of the half, but I think that was just happenstance, since a missed field goal in the CFL has to be run out by defending team - it’s not spotted.
Interestingly, of the 10 longest field goals in the CFL, 7 of them were made at Taylor Field in Regina. No doubt the wind.
Heck, a guy at my old high school got a 50-yard FG a week or two ago. It can’t be that hard for a pro to top that by ten yards, can it?
I dunno - is it a geometric or arithmetic progression? I would think that each yard is a little bit harder to get.
At least five college players have kicked longer ones.
Sorry to be shooting from the hip here (VERY long day…), but didn’t someone drop-kick a 99 yarder (Jim Thorpe?)?
This is still leagel in the NFL, IIRC.
This site says 69 yards in a high school game is the longest ever in any league.
Of the long field goals, all but Gramatica’s had the benefit of a tee, which adds a few yards to any kick.
Also high school players still use tees, so a 50-yard field goal isn’t as hard there. And the goal posts are farther apart in high school.
IIRC, Jim Thorpe’s stunt was to kick a field goal over each goal post from the 50-yard line. But he did it as a demonstration, not in a game.
Chronos It’s partly because a pro doesn’t get that many opportunities to kick one from that distance. A slim chance at 3 points isn’t usually worth the much larger chance of giving the opponent excellent field position. Plus, from that distance the kicker has to use a much lower angle, and with the height and athleticism of today’s defensive linemen, a kick from that distance is more easily blocked. A pro could probably kick several 60 yarders a day if it weren’t for the pressure of the defense.
From this site:
It was Nov 8, 1970.
This was in New Orleans Superdome. (The Saints went 2-11-1 that season, with the other win over the Giants.)
Jason Elams only missed firld goal this year was a 65 yard attempt that had the distance but was wide…so i dont think the 63 yard record will stand for very long anymore