The New York Times on Place-Kicking

The New York Times has a fascinating article on the rise in kicking accuracy in the NFL.

Gee, it’s almost as if I read that somewhere before!

Here’s the NYT:

The only pure kicker in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Jan Stenerud, made only 17 of 64 field-goals attempts of 50 yards or more in his 19-year career. He made the most — converting 3 of 4 — in 1984.

This season, the most successful long-distance kickers, Oakland’s Sebastian Janikowski and Jacksonville’s Josh Scobee, have already made five each. Stenerud’s career field goal percentage was 66.8. Were he kicking this season, that would place Stenerud next to last in success rate, one-tenth of a point ahead of Jay Feely, the Arizona kicker who is having an unusually bad season at 66.7 (his career average is 81.8). Overall field goal percentage this season is 85.9, up from 82.3 last season.

Here’s me:

This high-octane accuracy is completely new to football. In 1974, the first year when the uprights were placed at the back of the end zone, kickers made just four of 30 field goals from 50 or more yards. Jan Stenerud, the only pure placekicker in the Hall of Fame, made 66.8% of his career field goal attempts. Today that’s good enough for 105th place in career accuracy. Nearly every player in the top 30 for career accuracy is currently active.

Two entries on the same topic, using the same stats and even using the same obscure reference points — mine being posted a few days before. This could be a highly unusual coincidence, however, I’m very suspicious.

Update: The writer from the Times contacted me and claims she was unaware of my post. I’ve edited some of the language of this post to be less accusatory. You can read both and determine for yourself. I remain very suspicious.

Posted by on November 6th, 2011 at 3:33 pm


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