Remember the good old days? When a kicker with some ability to hit field goals from 50-plus yards was a weapon?
Now, seemingly everyone is hitting those kicks – even the old guys like Matt Bryant and Adam Vinatieri, who no longer handle kickoffs.
There are 23 kickers who’ve attempted at least 10 field goals from 50-plus yards in the last three years. All but two of those guys have hit over half of those attempts. Almost a third of them have hit 80-plus percent from that range.
To get much attention/credit for kicking a field goal nowadays, one needs to either hit from 54-plus yards, hit multiple long-range kicks in the same game, or at least add the pressure of it being a game-winner.
| FIELD GOALS FROM 50-PLUS SINCE 2011 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Kicker | FG | FGA | Pct |
| 1. | Robbie Gould | 11 | 12 | 91.7% |
| 2. | Justin Tucker | 10 | 11 | 90.9% |
| 3. | Phil Dawson | 18 | 21 | 85.7% |
| 4. | Matt Bryant | 9 | 11 | 81.8% |
| 5. | Blair Walsh | 12 | 15 | 80.0% |
| 6. | Matt Prater | 12 | 15 | 80.0% |
| 7. | Stephen Gostkowski | 8 | 10 | 80.0% |
| 8. | Graham Gano | 11 | 14 | 78.6% |
| 9. | Josh Scobee | 10 | 13 | 76.9% |
| 10. | Rob Bironas | 9 | 12 | 75.0% |
| 11. | Jason Hanson | 7 | 10 | 70.0% |
| 12. | Nick Folk | 9 | 13 | 69.2% |
| 13. | Dan Bailey | 11 | 16 | 68.8% |
| 14. | David Akers | 12 | 18 | 66.7% |
| 15. | Connor Barth | 8 | 12 | 66.7% |
| 16. | Adam Vinatieri | 10 | 16 | 62.5% |
| 17. | Sebastian Janikowski | 16 | 26 | 61.5% |
| 18. | Nick Novak | 8 | 13 | 61.5% |
| 19. | Steven Hauschka | 6 | 11 | 54.5% |
| 20. | Greg Zuerlein | 8 | 15 | 53.3% |
| 21. | Dan Carpenter | 8 | 15 | 53.3% |
| 22. | Mason Crosby | 9 | 19 | 47.4% |
| 23. | Billy Cundiff | 3 | 12 | 25.0% |
—Ian Allan