Average field goals per game

Quote: Face

Cor blimey! 0.o The Canadian by way of UK gets it! =D C'mon guys, it's FUTBOL AMERICANO! Bad enough we suck at geography.... ;)

Just to elaborate, once a team takes a fair catch they have the option of kicking a field goal from the spot of the catch. A holder is implemented same as a regular field goal, but there is no snap. The kicker lines up 10yards back same as he would a kickoff, runs up and gives it das boot. The defense cannot rush him on this play. Imagine a windy weather kickoff with no tee... that's basically what it looks like.

The last one was relatively recently, say within 5-7 years. ARZ vs NYG. With 5 seconds left in the half, ARZ attempted a 68 yarder by this method. After a whole bunch of lining it up, making sure the holder held it just right, licking a finger and testing the wind, the kicker booted a line drive that shanked left, bouncing at about the 30yd line ><

Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCBBUMnRqbo

All that drama and pffft....

Quote: Nareed

It's not that bad. That's an esoteric rule rarely invoked. What are the chances of getting a fair catch about 40-50 yards from the uprights?

What surprised me was a few seasons back a game ended in a tie, and some of the players were surprised to learn such things existed in the NFL. It seems they thought they'd keep playing after 15 minutes of OT ran out. Now, granted ties are rare in Football, they're not unheard of.

It was Donovan McNabb, in the Eagles tie in 2008 (which was the last one in the NFL). He's tried to say he was just joking since then. But it wasn't "some" of the players, just him.

Quote: MathExtremist

Can you correlate starting drive position with drive result? And then map that to the distribution of this year's starting drive position (which should be much heavier on the 20 yard line)?

I can't. The theory that makes the most sense to me the one that kickers are just getting better. Somebody linked to a good article about it several posts back.

Quote: cclub79

Here's the video

Please forgive my ignorance, but why did they even get to do a field goal attempt without having to snap the ball? You can hear the announcers call it a "free kick," but what is a "free kick"? I've never seen a field goal attempt done like a kickoff before.

Quote: Wizard

I can't. The theory that makes the most sense to me the one that kickers are just getting better. Somebody linked to a good article about it several posts back.

Quote: cclub79

Here's the video

Please forgive my ignorance, but why did they even get to do a field goal attempt without having to snap the ball? You can hear the announcers call it a "free kick," but what is a "free kick"? I've never seen a field goal attempt done like a kickoff before.

See a previous post made by me. After a fair catch, the team may elect to take a free kick. A free kick is exactly that... it cannot be interrupted, charged or blocked. The kicking team gets an attempt to hit it between the uprights, with as much time as they like.

It's very rare it's attempted. Most fair catches are far too deep to be worth attempting the kick for, you give up possession if you miss (or if you make it). I suspect it's a hold over rule from the early days of American Football when it had a lot more kicking and rugby like aspects.

Do you have yearly averages? I'd expect to see a definite uptick year by year over your 10-11 year time frame. I believe these factors are all in play here:

1. The shift towards passing dominance versus the running game - If you compare numbers over time, I think you'll see more 4000 yard passers relative to 1000 yard rushers each year.

2. Stronger legged kickers - It used to be that a 50 yard field goal was something special. Today, if you can't consistently hit half of your 50+ yard attempts, it's likely that you won't be on the roster very long.

3. More attempts (overall and long distance) - Coaches are giving kickers more tries in general and specifically more 50-60 yard tries, because they see a higher success rate on them than in the past.

4. Closer games in general - More parity leads to closer games, and an extra 3 points never hurts. Coaches seem to have given up on throwing Hail Mary's in favor of trying long field goal when circumstances dictate.

Quote: Toes14

Do you have yearly averages? I'd expect to see a definite uptick year by year over your 10-11 year time frame. I believe these factors are all in play here:

Ask and ye shall receive. Sorry but I'm missing 2010.

Year	Avg. FG
2000	2.92
2001	2.97
2002	2.89
2003	2.97
2004	2.74
2005	3.03
2006	3.04
2007	3.07
2008	3.28
2009	2.92

Where I do agree is that lopsided games tend to have fewer field goals. That is a correlation I can prove, but I think it is intuitive why.

Yes, we can see a general trend upward. 2008 was another high year.

Quote:

Closer games in general - More parity leads to closer games, and an extra 3 points never hurts. Coaches seem to have given up on throwing Hail Mary's in favor of trying long field goal when circumstances dictate.

I have to disagree here. This table shows the average margin of victory by season. The last three years in the table are the three highest, but it isn't a huge increase.

Year	Avg. MOV
2000	12.05
2001	11.14
2002	11.39
2003	11.78
2004	11.45
2005	11.79
2006	11.33
2007	12.33
2008	12.13
2009	13.06

Quote: Wizard

Here is an update to this topic. Naturally, as soon as I quit betting first score to be a touchdown and under 3.5 field goals the number of field goals came down per game came down. Here are the totals for the regular season.

Team	Made	Attempted
Ariz	19	24
Atl	27	29
Bal	30	39
Buf	23	31
Car	22	28
Chic	28	32
Cin	24	29
Clev	24	29
Dal	32	37
Den	19	25
Det	24	29
GB	24	28
Hou	32	38
Ind	23	27
Jac	23	25
KC	24	30
Mia	33	39
Min	22	28
NE	28	33
NO	28	34
NYG	19	24
NYJ	19	25
Oak	31	35
Phil	24	27
Pitt	23	31
SD	28	35
SF	44	52
Sea	25	30
StL	21	28
TB	26	28
Ten	29	32
Wash	31	41
Total	829	1002
Average	25.91	31.31
Average per game	1.62	1.96

While crossing my Ts and dotting my Is with my NFL stats,

Wiz you need to double check your data.

Cincinnati made 33 of 38 in my log. I do not know if that is the only error, it seems to be.

Covers, ESPN and CBS Sports also shows 33/38. (I have found a few errors over at Covers in the past)

For 2011
CBS Sports at 838/1011= 0.828882295
ESPN the same

Covers at 832/1004= 0.828685259. ? Do not know what their problem is. Maybe they have not updated their data base?
I was lazy this year and have not updated my weekly data either.

As you might already know ESPN shows...
2010 794/964= 0.823651452
2009 756/930= 0.812903226
2008 845/1000= 0.845 (NFL Record says Elias Sports Bureau)
2007 795/960= 0.828125
2006 767/942= 0.814225053

You're right, I had the wrong number for the Bengals. My notes, from NFL.com were right, but in entering the data into Excel I must have entered the Bear's data twice.

Now that I correct that I also get 838 and 1011.

Thanks for the correction. This makes the field goal glut even more pronounced.

Quote: thecesspit

The free kick is an option given to a recieving team who take a fair catch. The kick is an option even if time has expired. I have no idea who last even attempted one. Flutie, a CFL hall of famer, was the last man to kick a drop goal in the NFL. Its more common in the cfl due to the rules on when the bal is live. And because on side players can recover a kick. The 2nd down trick punt is used every season it seems.

I don't think there has been an actual drop kick attempt in the CFL since at least the 70's. When Flutie kicked one in the nfl I think the myth spread that he used to do it in the CFL, the truth is his coaches in the cfl never let him try it. You will see cfl players (rarely) punt the ball out of their endzone or punt after receiving the ball downfield because of the rouge rule and because onside players may recover a punt or kick. There is no free kick rule in the cfl.