Nailing a 61-yard field goal on Monday, Dec. 16 was Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker. Late in the game, trailing one point to the Detroit Lions, Tucker had to dig deep and boom the ball through the uprights.
On Sunday, Dec. 8, kicker Matt Prater of the Denver Broncos kicked a 64-yard field goal on the last play of the first half against Tennessee in fourteen-degree weather in Denver. Prater broke the record of 63 yards set by Tom Dempsey in 1970 and later tied by Jason Elam, David Akers, and Sebastian Janikowski.
If so many National Football League kickers are booting the football through the uprights with ease, why not narrow the field goal posts? It’ll make the game more exciting.
Historically the numbers don’t lie. Nineteen of the last twenty NFL seasons rank in the top 20 of the seasons with the most field goals made.
Also, field goal attempts from long range are becoming more prevalent. From long range, kickers are scraping by and kicking the ball through the uprights at 50, 55, and even 60 yards.
If the NFL doesn’t narrow the field goal posts, the number of field goals made per game will continue to rise.
If the NFL is thinking about narrowing the field goal posts’ widths, it’ll be the most important NFL development of the 2013 season. It’ll make the game more exciting. Arena football’s field goal posts are narrow. This is what makes the game so exciting.
Let’s face it, football is the most exciting sport when players are running, throwing, catching, and hitting. It’s no fun when there’s just kicking. It’s exhilarating, to a fan, when a coach decides to go for it on fourth down in the redzone.
Narrowing the posts will encourage coaches to go for it on 4th and 2 from the 35. If the coach sends out the kicker from the 35, the chance of him making a 52-yard field goal is slim, for most kickers at least.
Why not make the game more exciting? Sure, it’ll discourage coaches to kick long range field goals, but it’ll attract more fans to the stadium, bringing in more profits for the owner. Fans will want to see an exciting game that’s packed with more bone-crushing hits.
Arena football’s goal posts are drastically narrower than the NFL’s. Arena football’s goal posts are nine feet wide with a crossbar height of fifteen feet. The NFL’s goalposts are eighteen and a half feet wide with the crossbar at ten feet.
By narrowing the field goal posts, this change would be a great step in making the game more competitive. The decision will ultimately be made by the NFL.
The question that lingers is that of when the NFL will decide to keep the current dimensions or narrow them. The decision could be made early as this year, but who knows.
As of the now, the ball remains in the NFL’s hands.
