Current Events > I'll never understand how college and NFL football teams allow kickers that

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Ill never understand how college and NFL football teams allow kickers that just.... miss... kicks. I feel like there has to be pools of kickers in the USA that wont miss simple kicks. Or snappers that wont mess the snaps idk man it seems so SILLY. Would love opinions on this.

What a horribly inaccurate username
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Maybe it's tougher than it looks?
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King_Hutton posted...

What a horribly inaccurate username

fact
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BusyGettingLaid posted...

I feel like there has to be pools of kickers in the USA that wont miss simple kicks.

There really isn't. Mediocre kickers keep getting chances because there simply aren't enough good kickers to go around to force those weaker ones out of the league. It's a much tougher position than you'd expect, especially factoring in the pressure of big game situations.
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Before others pounce on TC: this was a Ninja tweet
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Didnt you just make this topic a couple hours ago too?

^oh, thats how I remember it

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All the great kickers play soccer
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Lots of factors go into it. Nobody in the history of the game has ever been 100% accurate when kicking field goals. Wind conditions, field conditions, distance, opposing team pressure, etc. can all change the way a kick occurs.

The most accurate kickers in the history of the NFL hover around a 90% success rate.
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This is the worst reply ever. Fortnite requires movement, editing, building, rotating, and hitting shots. There are not positions in Fortnite. A kickers job is LITERALLY to kick. Horrible analogy, kind of embarrassing.

brestugo posted...

Maybe it's tougher than it looks?

This is the shittiest reply ever.

I can agree with the NFL where there are just 32 teams, careers can go on as long as the player or teams wants, and roster spots are near limitless if you include the practice squad.

Its a whole different beast in college though. 130+ schools. Just four years of eligibility. Scholarship limits. Thousands upon thousands of high school kickers to choose from. Its not really worth the resources to recruit kickers when instead you can focus on an offense that shouldnt rely on kickers.

Plus as others have said kicking itself involves much more than the simple kick. The weather can effect the kick. The snap can effect the kick. The turf can effect the kick. Game pressure or even defensive pressure can effect the kick. Angles vary and kickers have their preferences on angles. Its nowhere near a perfect science, but despite the variables nfl kickers still average over like 80% accuracy.

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And the 130ish schools are just the FBS ones. Theres FCS, D2, etc.
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doink
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King_Hutton posted...

What a horribly inaccurate username

One thing I learned today is if im curious and unsure of something, is to never ask for the internets opinion because I am getting fucking ROASTED.

Ever see the kickers point of view for the goal posts ?

The bullseye is smaller than it looks on TV.

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Kicking is probably the 2nd hardest thing in sports to do after hitting a pitch.
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There really aren't that many good kickers, and most teams are unwilling to pay to get the decent ones. They'd rather pay the league minimum to an unproven rookie than pay what a 10 year proven veteran is asking.

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Almost as ridiculous as allowing receivers that drop passes. Or defenders who miss tackles.

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A better analogy would be how can basketball players miss free throws.

The answer is that those kickers would probably make 100 out of 100 kicks in practice. But every time you perform something under pressure, your successful rate will drop.
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For the record, he was specifically talking about really short kicks like Pat's

He was salty that Michigan got spanked lol

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Flockaveli posted...

lmao. I fuck with ninja but that kicker hot take sounds like some casual football fan shit. Anyone who actually watches football or played it knows kicking isnt as simple as it looks.

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NFL kickers are gutless bums. It's amazing how pathetic kicking has been this year, and how bad it is in general when they have one job.

Also amazing the poor quality considering it's such an important position that often decides games.
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I agree with the Ninja quote, at least to a degree.

I think we can all agree that kicking the ball from the 48, with a screaming, hostile crowd, in driving rain and 20 MPH wind gusts, and with the game on the line, is an insanely challenging thing.

However, this is not what Ninja is talking about. He's talking about kickers that line up on the ten, in sunny weather, no wind, at home, up by 20, then shanking the ball twenty yards to the left. Then doing it again next time they score. Then doing it again. Then going home and cashing their 2 million dollar check for kicking field goals.

Nobody shits on a kicker when they miss insane kicks. It's when they habitually miss "give me" kicks that people start getting pissed.

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What about Scott Norwood?

Not an easy kick, he was at the very end of his range (kickers weren't as good back then either), and he also had this weird stat where he was terrible on grass fields. But everyone forgets the entirety of that game and just remembers Wide Right.
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Good lord that Ninja guy is an annoying pussy, does he actually interact with people outside of the digital realm?
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those goalposts sure look small from like 40 yards out

Conception616 posted...

Good lord that Ninja guy is an annoying pussy, does he actually interact with people outside of the digital realm?

Consdering that tweet was an example of him interacting with a person in regards to a subject outside of the digital realm, I can't imagine he's very successful if he does.
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Damn_Underscore posted...

What about Scott Norwood?

Not an easy kick, he was at the very end of his range (kickers weren't as good back then either), and he also had this weird stat where he was terrible on grass fields. But everyone forgets the entirety of that game and just remembers Wide Right.

The stakes in that game make a difference. When you miss a game winning kick in a championship game, people will be pissed no matter what. Literally missed the game winning Super Bowl kick. Of fucking course people are going to remember that.

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https://twitter.com/ChrisWarcraft/status/1200868821776551936?s=19
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Justin Tucker seems like the only kicker you can truly rely on these days.
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