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Factoid

Kickers on fire

Placekickers hitting more field goals than ever before

As I look at the team-by-team numbers, the kicker totals seem high. Right now, 14 teams are on pace to finish the season with at least 133 kicking points. Six kickers are averaging at least 10 points per game. That includes Stephen Gostkowski, and the other five are all at least modest surprises – Mike Nugent, Cody Parkey, Dan Carpenter, Shaun Suisham and Chandler Catanzaro.

I poked around some with the all-time numbers. It’s early, but right now the group is on pace to finish with 871 field goals, which would be an all-time record.

This isn’t too much of a surprise, given that this total seems to grow every year. In 2011, they kicked 838, which was the 2nd-most all time. Then they hit a record 852 in 2012, and they hit a record 863 last year.

If form holds, kickers will average 118 points this year. Only three times in league history have teams averaged over 116 kicking points in a season, and those have been in the last three years.

Here’s a look at the last 30 years …

FIELD GOALS PER YEAR
YearFGPoints
198456398.7
1985596102.2
198655996.5
198755195.1
198857197.0
1989601101.0
199059098.8
1991623100.5
199256193.5
1993673103.4
1994640100.4
1995738108.1
1996732105.8
1997708103.9
1998708105.2
1999749106.6
2000731104.7
2001732103.4
2002737105.0
2003756105.6
2004703102.8
2005783107.8
2006767107.0
2007795110.9
2008845115.8
2009756107.3
2010794112.0
2011838116.1
2012852118.3
2013863120.3
2014871117.9

—Ian Allan

6 Reader Comments:

Jose Montana

ROSEMEAD, CA
2014-09-22T23:26:40Z
I've been doing FF for 20 years and using your magazine. It seems the rule has always been in TD-only leagues that anyone scoring any kins of TD gets 6 points (just like in the real world) but the QB only gets 4 points for passing TD's, presumably because everyone doesn't want QBs "getting too many points." Yet, the PK's always get 3 points for a FG and 1 point for PAT. Not everybody scores a touchdown every week, but the PK's always get points. Who decided to discount passing TD's but not FG's?

BEN HOGEVOLL

Siletz, OR
2014-09-22T23:51:42Z
Thats a stupid comment! first whats kins of td? Leagues are all different.You and your league players make your own rules and vote on it.You ask who in leagues decides to discount passing TDs but not FGs?That should be you and your group.Also if you dont like the rules in a certain league,go find and join another one.Our leauge like most scores 6 points for all tds including passing.

Ian Allan

Seattle, WA
2014-09-22T23:57:32Z
In our TD-only league, we use 6 points for touchdowns and 4 for TD passes. We're in our 29th year. If I could wind the clock back to 1986 and start over, I think I would have preferred 7 points for touchdowns and 5 for TD passes (with kickers still standard). Kickers, I think, are significant players in a TD-only format, regardless what you're giving for touchdown passes.

Benjamin MacLeod

Manchester, NH
2014-09-23T00:33:06Z
I keep picking the wrong kicker each week and it has cost me 2 games. Blair Walsh's 1-point effort in week 2 was brutal and then I went with Dan Carpenter this week and got 4 instead of the 9 from Walsh and now will likely lose that game by a small margin unless Brandon Marshall has a big night. Kickers matter but matchups can be hard to predict. Any way to make this decision easier?

Joseph Varnon

Houston, TX
2014-09-23T04:51:07Z
a "passing touchdown" is more properly termed an "assist" - it results in a score, just like an assist does in other sports

it is not a type of touchdown except in fantasy

the guy in the endzone scored the touchdown - when your QB throws a TD to your receiver, you have 2 fantasy TDs - and the NFL team puts 6 on the scoreboard

check the NFL scoring leaders - no quarterbacks
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