NFL Week 16 -- Football overload

Aw, man, I just heard about this. Wish I'd seen it live. I love fair-catch free kicks.

I don't know if this was mentioned, but it's also the longest such field goal in NFL history. The previous long was 52 -- by Paul Hornung.

Mark Moseley once tried one from 74 yards.

 

I'm pretty sure I watched the previous one in 1976 but I may be Mandela-effecting it.

I believe the Raiders had Janikowski try a 76-yarder during his prime years. Supposedly it was wide.

Moseley's attempt as I remember was way short; as the last of the straight-on kickers, he was never known for outstanding range, but rather very good short to midrange accuracy. During the phase-over from straight-on to soccer-style kickers from 1970-80, the conventional wisdom was that the straight-on guys got the kicks up higher and faster, less susceptible to blocks, generally more accurate up to about 40, but few straight-on guys could consistently hit at 50 or more. The soccer guys supposedly had better distance, but tended to kick lower line drives that were more blockable.

In the Seventies, some college teams (with 100-man rosters) would have a straight-on guy for XPs and field goals out to about 40, then a soccer-style guy for longer FG attempts and kickoffs.

About 1980, the previous trend of having combination punter-placekickers died out, pretty abruptly, although curiously the practice of having guys double as punters and kickoff specialists gained steam.

 

We need more punter-QUARTERBACKS. Viva la Danny White and Tom Tupa!

 

Getting in bed with DeShaun Watson is gonna cost the Browns Myles Garrett. Then everyone jumps into thr Titanic’s lifeboats.

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/20...plan-to-win-now-im-not-trying-to-rebuild.html

 

Seriously the thing that I can't understand is the complete disappearance of backup quarterbacks from the role of placekick holder (nearly universal in the 60s until the early 80s).

When you have a backup QB as the holder, at least you have some credible options if you want to try some kind of a fake. (Especially if your Q3 is a RPO slash style guy.) When it's the punter, basically you've got two non-football players screwing around back there.

In all seriousness, why not just modify the third-quarterback rule to say a third quarterback may appear in a game without any ramifications to anybody's eligibility, as long as they do so in the capacity of a holder for an apparent place kick??

 

They stopped letting backup QBs hold after Hartman.

 

Punter=quarterbacks were pretty common until the 50's. Sammy Baugh held punting records for years. Norm Van Brocklin was an excellent punter and even Steve Spurrier was the 49'ers punter for a couple years.

I think the reason for the decline of dual threats was the demise of the single wing'. A single-wing tailback was expected to quick kick so high school coaches developed there best athlete as a triple threat passer, runner and punter. And I think high school coaches who today run spread offenses should start developing their quarterbacks as punters their sophomore year. That way when their team has a fourth and five or so around mid-field they can line up in a four or five wide receiver set. If the defense drops a punt returner back the offense was one less DB to beat and they play 11 on 10. If the defense does not drop a punt returner then the QB/punter drops back a few yards and punts the ball with no one back.

 

I saw Randall Cunningham clinch an Eagles win over the Giants with a quick kick that went for like 70 yards from about his own goal line. He could've been an amazing punter.

 

Expansion of NFL rosters into the 40s in the 1960s and the arrival of essentially free substitutions in HS and college in 1964 were also major points in the development of separate specialists for punting and placekicking. If players can only come in a game once per quarter, your kickers have to do something else.

 

I'm pretty sure Randall Cunningham punted at UNLV, and I saw him with UNLV play at Long Beach State almost 40 years ago.

 

Dan Pastorini did both at Santa Clara.