The unique NFL kicker is a Covid-19 victim at 73, though apparently he was a dementia sufferer for several years. Another one of all too many care-home deaths.
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We lived in Toledo, Ohio when he hit the 63 yarder. I watched it live on tv - I still think Prater's 64 yarder needs an *.
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The TV broadcast of his 63 yard field goal is amazing. Don Criqui is trying not to laugh at the idea of a field goal attempt from the Saints’ 37 yard line, then hears the enormous thud (which sounds like a cannon going off in the distance) and immediately realises this kick has a chance. And it did.
He broke the NFL record by SEVEN yards. That’s insane. Farewell, Tom.
https://youtu.be/cjqiq4S9bqAComment
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Wow. Knew nothing of this guy, just watched that clip. What a goal, what a story. RIPComment
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OK, why is that special? Well OK, it broke the record, so the question should be - why can they only kick it that far? In football I've seen goalkeepers score, which means 100 yards or thereabouts, and they have to get it in the goal too, whereas from that clip it looks like the NFL blokes just have to manage to get it over the line. Most footballers I can think of could do that quite easily, why don't the teams employ some?
Edit - is it the ball? I'd have thought ovoid balls would actually be more aerodynamic than spherical ones though.Last edited by delicatemoth; 06-04-2020, 02:52.Comment
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It has to go through the uprights and there are a bunch of huge guys trying to block it. The snap and the hold have to be perfect too.
For some reason, it’s impossible to see the goal posts in the video posted above and they don’t have the angle that shows them as would be normal in a broadcast now (or any time in the last 40 years).
Here’s a different view of it.
https://youtu.be/zrxTjgFYoU8
Back then the goal posts were in the end zone. Now they’re in the back of the end zone so they don’t pose a hazard to players or interfere with passes. (Except it Canada.)
Here’s a clip of Matt Prater’s recent field goal that beat that record. But it was in Denver so the ball flies further. And the game wasn’t on the line. There have been a few other 63 yarders and I don’t think they were all in Denver.
https://youtu.be/VYTTFZKUT7Y
That seems to be approaching the absolute limit, partly because of the limits of human anatomy, but mostly because to kick it further would require a lower launch angle and it would be blocked and it’s hard to kick it that perfectly straight.
https://youtu.be/t0zBnMjxDLg
Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 06-04-2020, 05:29.Comment
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Also worth noting that NFL clubs have employed real football players as kickers since the mid 60sComment
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John Smith, who was one of the early presenters when the NFL was broadcast on C4 in the UK being one. Am sure it was mentioned that he used to play football in the UK (memory says Rochdale) but looking on wiki there's no mention of this at all. Does anyone know if he did play over here before becoming an outstanding kicker in the late 70's/early 80's in the NFL?Originally posted by ursus arctos View PostComment
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This is what foxed me, I watched it about five times thinking 'I thought this sport has goalposts' before concluding I'd misremembered those ancient Channel 4 days which sparked a brief flicker of interest among British children.Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View PostComment
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I think you're confusing him with Mick Luckhurst, who was actually a collegiate rugby player (he was a flyhalf on Cal's first national championship winning team, which is important in the annals of American rugby) before he was a pretty wooden presenter on C4. He was part of the small handful of rugby players who got tryouts as placekickers in the NFL -- Naas Botha was another.Originally posted by nmrfox View Post
Toni Fritsch was a kicker for the Cowboys for years, he actually played for Rapid for several years and got 9 caps for Austria, scoring twice in their first win at Wembley in 1965.Comment
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In addition to the snap, hold, having to angle it high enough not to be blocked, an American football is smaller than a rugby ball or association football and so has a pretty small sweet spot. So many 60+ yard field goal attempts involve the guy trying to welly it and getting under it, causing the ball to drop 10 yards short.
If you look at Paul Thorburn's mega-kick for Wales against Scotland in 1986, which went 64.2 metres/70 yards and eight and a half inches (I guess someone measured it after the game), it's a low line drive that probably would have been blocked at the line.Comment
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Sure he was pre-Luckhurst when Nicky Horne and Miles Aiken presented on C4 when the NFL first got regular broadcasts over here. He may have been a guest, as an Englishman in the NFL was pretty rare those days, so may have been my always bad memory playing more tricks!Originally posted by Flynnie View Post
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A few Aussie Rules players have edged into NFL, I think exclusively as kickers.Comment
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The top punter in US university gridiron has been Australian in six out of the last seven seasons.
Two of the most successful Aussie punters have been Sav Rocca for the Eagles (Collingwood and North Melbourne) and Darren Bennett of the Chargers (West Coast and Melbourne), though the trend is now to bring guys over before they have played AFL
Dempsey's kick was as remarkable in context as Beamon's long jump in Mexico City, and was not at altitude. It is unusual for such achievements in team sports to be so quantifiable. I was fascinated as a kid by Mickey Mantle's "565 foot home run" at Griffith Stadium in Washington, but that was an approximation and exaggeration (modern estimates are around 500 feet).Comment
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John Smith played for the Patriots for about ten years when they were bad, but never played real football professionally.
Though his daughter has played for Arsenal.Comment
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Is it possible that the foot/boot combo might have given him a unique advantage in some way? Just - you know - asking for a friend.Comment
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There was ample discussion of that at the time, focusing on the fact that his foot and boot provided a larger and more uniform surface to contact the ball than a "normal" US kicker, who still would have been using the top of his foot at the time ("soccer style" kicking became universal by the 80s/90s, but still was a minority taste at the time).Comment
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Every other kick has been at something approaching altitude, mostly in Denver, but even David Akers's FG was at Lambeau, which is 640 feet above sea level. Would have only added a few feet to the kick, but considering it bounced off the cross bar and in, that's important. Graham Gano's for the Panthers and Brett Maher's kick for the Cowboys at Carolina (750 feet up) and the new Texas Stadium (about 560 feet up) is probably the closest "true" contenders to Dempsey, in that both cleared the post by quite a bit.Originally posted by ursus arctos View PostComment
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Whereas Tulane Stadium (where Dempsey made his) may actually have been slightly below sea level (as is much of New Orleans)
Most of the contenders you mention (other than Akers') were also on artificial surfaces, which are easier to kick off of.
It really was an incredible achievement and won the game as time expired.Comment
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Dempsey's foot probably helped him kick it straight, but the distance was just power.
Wind is a factor too.Comment
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