Place-kicker Adam Vinatieri has been around. After high school, and a quick stint at Army, he returned to his home of South Dakota (State) to finish his college career -- where he set the school scoring record. Ignored by the NFL at the time, on to the World Football League, which became NFL Europe, which ultimately went belly-up. Maybe not so impressive.
But then he finally caught on in the NFL. Between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts, Vinatieri is now a 17 year veteran in the NFL. He's the only place kicker to sport 4 Super Bowl Rings -- three with the Pats and another while with the Colts. In all, he's been to 5 Super Bowls, and would have been to a sixth, had he not been injured at the time. Over the years, he also earned the nickname Mr. Clutch, because he made the big kicks when they counted the most.
Sure, many would claim he's only a place-kicker, and they're amongst the lowest paid guys on NFL rosters. They would be right. But take them away, and a whole lot of games over the years, including Super Bowls -- would have turned out differently. So when a guy like Vinatieri talks about possible rule changes -- methinks he's earned the right for us to at least hear him out.
There have been whispers the NFL is considering narrowing the width between the goal posts because it's become too easy for kickers. Also whispers of eliminating the "point after" a touchdown entirely, because it's so automatic. Good ideas? Maybe. After all, a lot of rule changes have happened that some once protested, but are taken for granted now. The goalposts used to be on the goal line. They were moved 10 yards back to the rear of the end zone. Colleges have long had the "2 point conversion" attempt after a touchdown as an option, but the NFL only adopted that fairly recently. More recently, even though kickers have stronger legs than ever, kickoffs have been moved up 5 yards, where just about any NFL kicker can boom a kickoff deep into the end zone, if not completely out of it. If the league wanted to cut down on the high speed collisions that happen when a kick is being returned -- they've been fairly successful.
Perhaps someday they'll do away with "punting" and just give the ball to the other team 40 yards downfield. But like Vinatieri pointed out, if they eliminate the kickers, then they'll have to change the name of the game. After all -- it is FOOTball, right?
Let's not pretend other sports haven't changed their rules as well. The designated hitter? Shoot-outs in hockey? But more to the point -- how about the 3 point line in basketball? From preps to pros, that's been around for a while, and everybody's OK with it. If a shooter makes a long shot, it now counts for 3 points instead of 2.
That's where Vinatieri had, in my opinion, one helluvan idea. Instead of the usual 3 points, any field goal kicked from over 50 yards would be worth 4 points. How can you argue that given the basketball analogy above?
And can you imagine how much that might change the strategy in many games? Instead of two field goals being a point short of a touchdown and regular point after, one routine field goal and a long one would be the equalizer. There could even be times when an offense would take a 5 yard delay of game penalty to get the kicker outside the 50 yard mark for the possibility of 4 points instead of 3. If they were already in position to attempt a 46 yard field goal, and had a kicker with a strong leg, why not move it back 5 yards and see what happens? Especially if that "extra" point might make the difference in who wins and who loses. Food for thought.
Me? I'm old school. Never did like the designated hitter thing, hockey teams getting a point for an overtime loss, and female reporters being allowed to interview naked male athletes in their locker rooms. If that's OK, then how come no male reporters are allowed the same privilege when it comes to female athletes?
Damn women. Their place is in the kitchen barefoot, while sweating over a hot stove cooking meals for their man. Next thing ya know, one of them will run for President or something.
But I still like Vinatieri's 4 point field goal idea.
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