I was recently scrolling through some old NFL stats, and to my amazement, all of the “great” field goal kickers of my youth- Garo Yepremian, Ray Wersching, Toni Fristch, Tom Dempsey, Jan Stenerud (Hall of Famer) & Roy Gerala- all had career percentages of made field goals between 62 and 68 percent, which would not be good enough to remain on a present day NFL roster. And no, it isn’t longer attempts back then- the attempts over 50 yards are actually much smaller then than now. What is different now that kickers are routinely making 75% and up?
Indoor stadiums would be a good guess. I don’t know if thats the only reason, but I would think that would certainly push the percentages up.
When did they move the hash marks? The only reference I see mentions the early 70s.
Prior to that, some field goals were at difficult angle. When the hash marks were moved nearer to the center, the angles were easier; it’s been years sicne I’ve seen a team run the ball simply to get a better angle for a field goal.
After I posted I thouhgt of that, but then noticed that a lot of kickers who kick outdoors (Mare, Janikowski, Vinatieri before this year, etc.) are around 80% career. You would be hard pressed to find a current kicker with more than a years experience who is under 75%, regardless of if they kick in a dome or not.
Wikipedia says the hash marks were moved inwards to their current location in 1972. The goal posts were moved back from the goal line to the end line in 1974.
In 1994 they changed the rule to bring the ball back to the point of the kick, instead of the 20 yard line*, and what effect would that have on field goal attempts (would seem to decrease attempts)? Don’t expect this would have an effect on accuracy.
Also I imagine that overall field quality, because of the huge revenues the NFL now generates, would be much higher today, although not sure how that would be measured.
There was also a rule about using regular balls, versus “kicker’s balls” (:)) for all kicks, which should have resulted in shorter and possibly less accurate kicks.
*When the spot of the kick is beyond the 20 yard line, otherwise it is still placed on the 20.
Here’s a couple of thoughts:
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The increase in the quality of the fields. With a couple of exceptions, baseball and football don’t share stadiums. Also, the NFL is such a big deal that you’re not likely to have a Rolling Stones concert on Saturday night and then a NFL game the next day.
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More warm weather climates.
Wire-guided footballs?
I would think the prevalence of soccer-style kickers has probably pushed the percentage up, since they’re generally more accurate than the old straight-on kickers were. Better distance, too.
Definitely wire-guided footballs.
I agree. As a kid (in the '70s), I recall many announcers referring to “soccer style kickers” like a minority novelty in the league, usually with a skeptical tone like they were sampling some new stinky European cheese.
Some time later (early '80s or so), it had reversed, with anyone kicking straight now becoming a curiosity.
I’d argue that they’re better athletes in general. Better training, larger pool to draw talent from increases the ability in all sports.
Other stats like batting average or pass completion have an offense/defense push/pull. Both the offense and defensive players get better, so there’s no big change.
Kicking is just the kicker versus the ball.
I’d concur with everything in this thread:
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Better-trained kickers. Ever see Tom Dempsey in that clip of his 63-yarder? He
had very good range (obviously) but missed an 18 yarder in the '76 playoffs which
cost the Rams. Can’t forget the endless drills the snapper and holder have to do
nowadays either (one flubbed attempt and they’re out of a job). -
Before the posts were moved back in '74, coaches used long field goal attempts
as de-facto punts, as the rules of the time were the same for both. A questionable
attempt would be made back then which wouldn’t be made now, and in fact several
guys ran short missed kicks back for TDs before the rules changed. If things had
stayed the way they did, percentages now would be lower but the number of made
FGs would be quite a bit higher, and someone undoubtedly would have beaten
Dempsey’s (Elam’s) record by now. The reason for the changes at the time was in
fact to keep the game from becoming a field-goal kicking contest. -
More indoor stadiums, more artificial turf, better maintained fields in general.
They played a lot in dual-purpose stadiums back then, with a kicker having to
deal with the baseball infield (yes the played at Wrigley Field and Yankee Stadium). -
The straight-on kicker is gone; natural selection favored the soccer-style guys.
The straight-ons had a tendency for their kicks to “squirt” off the side of their
special kicking shoes.