The who, where and when are anyone’s guess. But kickers from coast to coast can feel the moment coming from the tops of their ultra confident brains to the tips of their historically powerful toes.
Analysis: The NFL’s first 70-yard field goal? Oh, it’s coming, and here’s why ...
There have been 171 attempts from 50 yards or longer this season as kickers just keep getting better and better.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 19, 2024 at 6:55PM
The NFL’s first 70-yard field goal is coming!
Right, Parker Romo?
“You never know,” said the Vikings’ current kicker, now heading into his third game in relief of the injured Will Reichard.
The Georgia-born smile attached to that response said a very Minnesota-like You Betcha!
“One day, the conditions will be right,” he said. “Maybe outside, wind at your back, end of the half, somebody might say, ‘Let it fly.’ And it will go through.”
Heck, it might not even take a wind-aided effort.
Never has the NFL had this many big-legged candidates lined up to kick down the door to a once unthinkable distance while soaring past the record 66-yarder Baltimore’s Justin Tucker nailed in 2021.
Through Week 11, kickers are 123 of 171 from 50-plus yards. That’s 71.9%. No other season has had a percentage higher than 69%.
The pace this year is 201 made from that distance and 280 attempted. That would break the records set last year by 43 makes and 50 attempts.
In 1970, Tom Dempsey, a straight-on kicker born with half a foot on his kicking leg, booted a 63-yarder. That stood alone as the league record until 1998. Then it shared the record for another 15 years.
Related Coverage
Monday night, Dallas kicker Brandon Aubrey would have surpassed that distance twice in eight games if his 64-yarder hadn’t been nullified by penalty. Aubrey made a 65-yarder against Tucker and the Ravens in Week 3 and is 20 of 21 from 50-plus in his two seasons.
So, what the heck’s going on?
Some obvious answers to anyone old enough to remember mud and non-filthy rich players who had offseason jobs: better playing surfaces, year-round training, better nutrition and sports psychologists.
Two answers you probably hadn’t thought of because, well, you’re not 74-year-old Gary Zauner, former Vikings special teams coordinator and longtime guru whose keen eye for specialists is still sought out by NFL teams.
“Snappers and holders,” said Zauner.
Zauner coached at the college level from 1979-91. He spent eight seasons with the Vikings (1994-2001) and 13 in the NFL. He’s been a consultant to teams, coach or tutor to some of the greatest kickers ever and runs yearly combines for specialists that aren’t affiliated with the NFL but are must-scout events.
The Vikings used those combines to sign Romo, punter/holder Ryan Wright and 2022 All-Pro first-team snapper Andrew DePaola.
“I’ve had 38 snappers play in the NFL in the last 15 years,” Zauner said. “The art of snapping has gotten so much better, the holders can just catch it and put it down and the laces are always facing forward.
“A guy like Aubrey? He can kick the air out of the ball. First time I saw him, I was like, ‘Holy crap.’ A guy like him and a lot of these other guys, if they know there’s not going to be a problem with the snap and hold, it becomes easy. Like putting the ball on a tee.”
Aubrey didn’t play college football. He played soccer at Notre Dame and in MLS.
“He came to me three years ago,” Zauner said. “He had been getting some coaching and it wasn’t working. He said, ‘Coach, I hear you’re the guy to see to get to the NFL.’ I said, ‘I am, if you’re good.’”
Zauner’s initial assessment?
“Forget everything those other coaches have told you,” he said.
Zauner then put a soccer ball down and told Aubrey to kick it through the uprights. He did. Zauner then put down a football.
“I said, ‘OK, can you convince your mind that that football is a soccer ball?’” Zauner said. “He said, ‘Yes,’ and kicked it through the uprights. I said, ‘Good, don’t think so much.’”
Aubrey was first-team All-Pro as a rookie. He also just became the first player in NFL history to make at least 10 field goals of 50-plus in consecutive seasons.
Twenty kickers have made 22 field goals of 56 yards or longer this season, including Reichard, the rookie who has made four of five from 50-plus with a long of 58. Three have made from 61-plus, including Buffalo’s Tyler Bass, whose 61-yard walk-off beat the Dolphins two weeks ago.
In Weeks 1 and 11, the Steelers went a combined 0-for-6 in the red zone. Big deal. In both of those games, Pittsburgh won because kicker Chris Boswell scored all 18 points by going 6-for-6 with three from 50-plus.
The NFL started keeping kicking stats in 1938. According to Pro Football Reference’s data, the first known make from 50-plus came in 1938 when Bears rookie tackle Lee Artoe nailed a 52-yarder.
The number of made 50-plus field goals climbed to 17 in 1970, 28 in 1990, 59 in 2010 and 106 in 2020. There have been only seven attempts from 70-plus. The longest, a 76-yarder into the wind by Oakland’s Sebastian Janikowski in 2008, came up well short. The most recent was a 70-yard try by Denver’s Brandon McManus in 2021.
Romo has only two NFL games on his résumé. He’s made all five field-goal attempts, but he’s yet to attempt a 50-yarder. He says he’ll be ready for that. Or, who knows, more.
