There’s a common business aphorism that suggests good leaders should try to make themselves obsolete. The idea is that you train subordinates to take on more responsibilities while you then focus on higher-level issues. Or play golf. Depends on the situation.
There’s a different kind of self-imposed obsolescence. We’re witnessing it from NFL placekickers right now. They have simply become too good. Their excellence is threatening the fundamental nature of the entire game. And at the risk of sounding like a cold-hearted corporate killer, it’s time for them to go.
I feel terrible for the Indianapolis Colts' Spencer Shrader, who may be on the cusp of a fine NFL career. But even so, I remain steadfast. The NFL should do away with extra points and field goals and adopt other scoring rules that could keep the game lively and exciting while also staying truer to what everyone loves about it.
Kicker’s excellence is ruining the NFL (even the Colts' Spencer Shrader)
The funny thing is, no one in the NFL even likes kicking. I’m not saying they don’t like kickers. Some of them are great guys. Others are Mike Vanderjagt. But that’s not the point. The people in charge of the game think kicking is stupid.
You know how I know that? Look at the NFL Hall of Fame. Guess how many kickers are in. Technically, there are four. But two of them came from an era in which kickers were not specialists. You just happened to have a guy on your team who played another position but also had a pretty strong leg. That’s how quarterback George Blanda and lineman Lou Groza ended up as “Hall of Fame” kickers.
The only two dedicated placekickers in the Hall are Jan Stenerud and Morten Andersen. We’ll see if Adam Vinatieri, the next most likely candidate, joins them.
Despite this overall lack of respect, kickers are bearing more and more responsibility for the outcome of games. And that, quite frankly, is insane. The component parts of kicking a field goal have virtually nothing to do with the fundamentals of football.
There is no running, passing, or catching. There is no tackling. There is blocking, but only for about two seconds. None of the things that make a football play exciting are evident in a field goal attempt. The only reason it becomes exciting is because the powers-that-be have said that successfully converting a field goal kick wins you three points.
They could just as easily say it has no value whatsoever.
It only exists in modern football because there was a form of kicking that was part of rugby. And I am not saying it hasn’t led to exciting moments. Whether it’s Jim O’Brien winning a Super Bowl or Scott Norwood losing one, placekicking has been an exciting part of the game. That doesn’t make it a good part of the game.
Think of what it would mean to remove the field goal. On fourth down, teams would still have to decide whether to go for the first or punt. Virtually anything inside your opponent's 40-yard line would result in a 4th down conversion attempt – even if it was 4th and 30. That would be a much more exciting play than a field goal.
And it would be more in tune with what we love about football, as opposed to some odd historical anomaly that has nothing to do with most of the gameplay.
When a team scores a touchdown, there is no extra point kick. Adopt the UFL rule, which allows teams to run a single play from either the two, five, or ten-yard line. Successful tries result in either one, two, or three points. That would add strategy and excitement while keeping consistent with on-field play.
Keep the kickoff but train a couple of position players to handle the job so that no kicking specialist is needed.
Keep the punt because – well, I can’t currently think of an alternative and because the punt does, in fact, involve blocking, running, catching, and tackling. (And while we’re on the subject, put Shane Lechler in the Hall of Fame.)
Obviously, this little diatribe is inspired by the utter excellence of kickers like Brandon Aubrey, who can change end-game scenarios by their mere presence. I admire Aubrey’s immense talent, but I hate what it does to the game.
There are other ways to address this dominance. Back in 1974, the NFL moved the goal posts from the goal line to the end line, ten yards further back. Why anyone ever thought having the goal posts in the field of play was a reasonable idea is beyond me. But that was the way it used to be.
Narrowing the goal posts is probably the most likely rule change if you want to lessen the impact of placekicking.
Eliminating the goal posts altogether is even better. Let it become a relic of the past. Let future generations wonder why that guy in Ace Ventura was so mad. Let every football play involve some running and some tackling.
It seems radical, but it really isn’t. It’s just football in its purest form.