Last weekend Justin Tucker kicked the longest field goal in NFL history. He also claimed that the best NFL kickers regularly kick even longer ones in practice. This got me thinking about the evolution of NFL kicking and the phenomena of resistance to change.

Consider an example. I grew up in St. Louis and our NFL team then was the St. Louis (now Arizona) Cardinals. From 1963 to 1978 our kicker was Jim Bakken. Continue reading Have Field Goal Kickers Improved? →