Mike Freeman’s 10-Point Stance: NFL Head Games Taking Toll on Kicking Corps

Some smart and honest words on kickers, 49ers fans rock and Tony Dungy sums up Dak Prescott perfectly.

   

1. Kicker Head Games

Lawrence Tynes was one of the great clutch kickers of his generation. He kicked the game-winner in the 2007 NFC title game at Green Bay to put the Giants in the Super Bowl. Four years later, he again kicked a field goal in overtime to put the Giants in the Super Bowl, that time against the 49ers.

Tynes was a picture of consistency and poise, which gives him great credence to discuss the remarkable, unbelievable, unfathomable, almost too-wild-to-be-true rash of missed extra points (12) last weekend.

“Couple of things are in play here, both externally and internally,” Tynes told Bleacher Report in an email when asked about the missed extra points. “The media, fans, etc., are making a big deal out of extra points and kickers are hearing the noise, adding pressure.”

In other words, kickers hear the talk on the outside and it’s getting to them.

That’s not totally shocking, but…wait, sorry, it kind of is totally shocking.

Aren’t kickers almost superhuman in their ability to block out noise and distractions?

“Internally, kickers have been trained in their minds that [extra-point attempts] are automatic, adding pressure,” Tynes said. “Today’s NFL [extra-point attempt] has become mental gymnastics for every kicker out there. Kickers are kicking not to miss instead of kicking to make it. Not a good place to be mentally.”

There’s proof to what Tynes is saying. According to former Tampa Bay general manager and current ESPN analyst Mark Dominik, NFL kickers are 44-of-45 on field goals from 32 or 33 yards this season. But they have missed 48 extra points—including a record 12 from this past weekend alone—from that same distance, per Dominik.

It appears Tynes is right. When kickers are missing extra points from the same distance they’re making field goals, there’s a good chance the issue is in their heads, not their feet.

Tynes, however, also believes the elements play a role.

“Weather is, and was a factor, in some of the misses [from] this weekend,” he said. “Typically, when the weather changes this time of year, players start to see the numbers go down or percentages drop. As winter hits, grass fields become more difficult to kick on as they get chewed up, but we can throw that out the window for this weekend because nine of the 12 missed [extra-point attempts] this weekend were on turf. This tells me what I already know: Guys are having a tough time mentally.”

Tynes thinks some of the problems could be solved with a little more preparation and positioning.

“Interestingly enough, nine of the 12 misses were from the middle of the field and three from the hashes,” he said. “If I was still playing today, I would certainly be on a hash mark. The middle of the field is ‘no man’s land…there are no ‘visual aids,’ so to speak, when you line up in the middle of the field that let you know you have lined up properly. Complicated, I know, but I relied on the hash marks as visual markers … so I could do the exact same thing every time.”

What’s difficult to tell is what the NFL (specifically the league office) thinks of these missed kicks. I’ve heard the league loves the extra-point chaos, and moving the kicks back created the kind of challenge it had desired.

But I’ve also heard league officials hate it because it makes kickers look bad.

So, are further changes to the kicking game imminent after the debacle that was Sunday?

“I don’t think it will lead to more changes,” said Tynes, “but I think the league can take what has happened over the last year and half and say, ‘Mission complete.’ [But] who knows, you may even see a windmill in front of the uprights in 2017.”

Laughable as that may be, Tynes has seen enough to know nothing is completely off the table when it comes to the kicking game.

“Whether it was the K balls in 2000, the 33-yard [extra-point attempt] or talk of narrowing the uprights, they are penalizing guys for being really good at what they do,” Tynes said. “Name me another profession in the entire world that penalizes individuals for excelling at their job? There’s only one—NFL kicker!”

       

2. Raiders’ Rapid Rise

As we watch the Raiders becoming a legitimate Super Bowl threat, it’s important to remember where they were two years ago.

Back then, the Raiders were stuck in a 16-game losing streak that lasted through two different …

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