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AFL I Arena Football League (1987-2008)

AFL Gets its Kicks

by Matt Khitikian
February 1, 2006 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)


As the first week of the 20th Arena League season passes into history, a quote from Avengers coach Ed Hodgkiss resonates with fans of the game. Following a victory over rival Arizona, Coach Hodgkiss stated, "This game really came down to field goals, they missed theirs, and we made ours."

With these words in mind, we should consider the influence of oft-overlooked players who can win or lose games purely on strength, accuracy and poise, players who were not included on the AFL's recent Top 20 All-Time list. No, we're not talking about quarterbacks (though it's a good guess); this week, we'll take a look at the affect kickers have on the game.

In the NFL and Canadian leagues, kickers have 18.5 feet between the goalpost uprights; on an Arena field, only 9 feet separate the posts. For those familiar with the Arena game, the shortened distance increases the difficulty of nearly every kick, including extra points. In a tidbit of info that might surprise some readers, the NFL record for field goal distance in a regular season game (Jason Elam/Tom Dempsey, 63 yards) equals the Arena record (Aaron Mills, 63 yards).

In order to determine how much of an affect kickers have on the game, we need only look at last week's results. In total, 100 extra points were attempted with a 92% success rate (92/100), while 36 field goals were attempted with a 61% success rate (22/36). Of the teams that lost games, all but two (Orlando and New York) missed at least one field goal, extra point, or both. The Dragons, perfect on extra points, actually made no field goal attempts in their game against the Nashville Kats while the Predators only kicked one field goal against the Georgia Force.

The Colorado-Chicago game produced no field goal attempts by either team, but the pre-game injury to kicker Keith Gispert resulted in the Rush attempting fourth-down conversions instead of field goals. According to Coach Hohensee, the loss of Gispert, a franchise record-holding kicker, "changed the whole game plan," indicating just how vital he considers the position.

In looking at the victorious teams, five were perfect on all of their kick attempts (the Crush were the only winning team that attempted no field goals, but were 9 of 9 on extra points). Overall, these five teams were 12/12 on field goals and 45/45 on extra points. In those games where both teams missed on at least one field goal or extra point, each of the losing teams had a worse kicking percentage than their opponents (80% vs. 50% for Philadelphia/Tampa Bay; 88% vs. 75% for Dallas/Kansas; 83% vs. 57% for Austin/Las Vegas).

Though these stats only encompass one week's worth of games, they reveal a small portion of the larger picture. Despite the smaller field, the thrilling one-play thirty-plus yard touchdown strikes, fans should remember that, between the foot of a kicker and a 9-foot wide gap rests the fate of teams, careers, and championship banners.

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Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from February 1, 2006


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