Recently I have been seeing a few articles about how bad kickers are in the NFL right now. And then just today, kickers set an all-time record for most missed extra points in one day with 11 and possibly more by the end of the night. But with all of the kicker bashing that’s been going on recently, is it an actual problem or an overreaction? Not only by fans and analysts but by teams as well.

To put things into perspective, at the beginning of the 2015 NFL season, the extra point was moved back from the 2-yard line to the 15-yard line, making it about a 33-yard kick now. The reason being to make extra points less of a certainty and make the games more interesting, and because in 2014, field goal attempts from that range were missed only twice all year. That number skyrocketed last season, as kickers missed 71 extra point field goals when they were moved back to the 15-yard line. And yet, there was no crazy backlash and criticism like there is this season.

But it is all unwarranted in my mind. So far, through ten games of this season, kickers have missed 36 extra-point attempts. At the current pace, kickers will miss about 58 extra points this season, which is an improvement over last year. Not to mention regular field goals are being missed at about the same rate as any other season over the past five years. So, where is all this kicker hate coming from? Is it just an overreaction of people who still haven’t adjusted to the new extra point system?

The main question I have is how much added pressure is put on these kickers now that the extra point has moved back. It is no longer a chip shot, but the fans and coaches are still treating it like one. Kickers are expected to make these field goals no problem. And with the way the media is and the win now attitude of the owners, kickers are being replaced left and right. These players have to fear for their job every single week now. That has to be messing with their heads, and their confidence at some point.

Maybe the real question shouldn’t be, why are there no good kickers anymore. Maybe it should be were they ever that good to begin with?

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