Fantasy Index

header banner img
OUR FANTASY BASEBALL MAGAZINE IS BACK! PRE-ORDER NOW
Win here.

Factoid

Kickers

Are kickers helped more by a good offense or a good defense?

Craig Leedy posed an interesting question yesterday on the website. He wondered if teams with good defenses tended to attempt more field goals – controlling field position and whatnot, the theory. It’s one of those ideas that gets kicked around as a truth, but seldom does anybody actually get the data out and see if it’s actually true. So I looked into it some.

I tweaked the focus of the question a little. Leedy wondered if those teams attempted more field goals. I changed it to whether they SCORED more kicking points. I think that’s the interest of most fantasy leagues: not how many field goals a team attempts, but how many actual kicking points it scores, including both extra points and successful field goals.

And rather than just looking at defenses, I am contrasting them to offenses.

Over the last five years, there have been 160 NFL teams. Here are the 20 that had the best defenses (allowed the fewest points). These teams averaged 126 kicking points per season.

TOP 20 DEFENSES SINCE 2010
YearTeamPtsPK
2011Pittsburgh227105
2011San Francisco229166
2013Seattle231143
2010Pittsburgh232125
2010Green Bay240112
2013Carolina241114
2012Seattle245118
2014Seattle254134
2011Baltimore266130
2010Baltimore270117
2013San Francisco272140
2012San Francisco273131
2012Chicago277121
2011Houston278135
2014Kansas City281113
2014Detroit282107
2010Chicago286110
2010Atlanta288128
2012Denver289133
2014Buffalo289133

Here, in contrast are the top 20 offenses of the last five years (again, using points scored). This group averaged almost 137 kicking points in these season – almost 11 points more.

TOP 20 OFFENSES SINCE 2010
YearTeamPtsPK
2013Denver606150
2011Green Bay560140
2012New England557153
2011New Orleans547147
2010New England518128
2011New England513143
2014Green Bay486134
2014Denver482128
2012Denver481133
2011Detroit474126
2014Philadelphia474150
2014New England468156
2014Dallas467131
2012New Orleans461111
2014Indianapolis458140
2013Chicago445123
2013New England444158
2013Philadelphia442114
2010San Diego441129
2010Philadelphia439143
2013Dallas439131

And here are all teams that have scored at least 130 kicking points in the last five years, along with the number of points it scored (“Off”) and allowed (“Def”). If a team ranked in the top 20 percent (top 32 of 160) it’s in bold. And in these teams, there are 20 such offenses but only 13 of those defenses.

I’ve also got the bottom 20 percent teams in there. For that group, there are three defenses (three really bad defenses). But there are no teams that finished in the bottom 20 percent in scoring but still made it to 130 points in kicking.

Offenses, it seems, are a better indicator for kickers than defenses.

TEAMS SCORING 130 KICKING POINTS
YearTeamDefOffPK
2011San Francisco229380166
2013New England338444158
2014New England313468156
2012New England331557153
2014Philadelphia400474150
2013Denver399606150
2011New Orleans339547147
2012NY Giants344429145
2013San Diego348396144
2012Atlanta299419143
2013Seattle231417143
2010Philadelphia377439143
2011New England342513143
2010Oakland371410142
2013Green Bay• 428417141
2012Minnesota348379141
2013San Francisco272406140
2014Indianapolis369458140
2011Green Bay359560140
2013Baltimore352320140
2013Indianapolis336391139
2012Houston331416138
2011Houston278381135
2011Dallas347369135
2014Seattle254394134
2012Detroit• 437372134
2014Green Bay348486134
2014Buffalo289343133
2012Denver289481133
2012Cincinnati320391133
2014Pittsburgh368436132
2012Baltimore344398132
2011Cincinnati323344132
2011Miami313329131
2012San Francisco273397131
2013Dallas• 432439131
2013Buffalo388339131
2014Dallas352467131
2014Houston307372130
2011Baltimore266378130

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index