You are Only as Good as Your Kicker!

by Kevin Cushing

Going into the Super Bowl, neither the Colts’ kicker Matt Stover or Saints’ Garret Hartley had missed a field goal since the playoffs began. In the Super Bowl Hartley made history completing all three of his field goal attempts over 40 yards each.  Stover made his first and had a chance to widen the Colts’ 16-17 lead in the fourth quarter. Instead he missed a 51 yarder. Some may argue that this contributed to sealing the Colts’ fate. The Saints took advantage of the change of possession scoring 8 points on the drive taking the lead and never giving it back.

Nate Kaeding's kicking performance arguably cost the Chargers a Divisional Playoff win versus the Jets

While kicking in the NFL is no small feat, a good kicker often goes unnoticed. More than ever, this season’s NFL playoffs highlighted the importance of a clutch field goal kicker.  In a game of inches and crucial momentum a single kick can have significant emotional impact on a team.

“Points are at such a premium in the playoffs that there is more of a microscope on the kicker. You know every kick can impact the game,” said Viking’s kicker Ryan Longwell. The Saints relied on kicker Garret Hartley to make an impact with a game winning field goal during overtime in the NFC championship game against the Vikings.

The NFL playoffs match the league’s best teams against each other every week. When the best teams play each other an overtime finish is not uncommon. The NFL’s controversial sudden death overtime rules coupled with a win or go home playoff system culminates with the necessity of a great field goal kicker and nerves of steel to boot.

One of the most striking examples of this was seen in the Jets v. Chargers second round divisional playoff match up. Jets kicker Jay Feely made the only field goal of the night in a 17 – 14 victory over the Chargers. Nate Kaeding for the Chargers was not so fortunate. In a game where three points would have meant overtime and six a victory Kaeding must have been kicking himself having missed three field goals worth a total of nine points. During the regular season Kaeding was 32 for 35. Yet in one playoff game he missed as many as he did during the entire 16 game regular season. Kaeding certainly knows the importance of a good kicker and understands the significance of those missed kicks. Two weeks after his overtime loss he said, “It’s impossible for me to not think about…  there haven’t been 30 seconds that have gone by since that game that I haven’t thought about it.”

No kicker is perfect, just ask the man with the NFL’s best all-time 87.2 field goal percentage, Nate Kaeding. Yet this postseason perfection was required. Stover made 6/7 postseason field goals, but was bested by a perfect 5/5 Superbowl champion Saints kicker Garret Hartley.