Place Kickers

We used to dream about leading our team on a game-winning touchdown drive, making a last second basket to win the game, or hitting a walk-off home run.  Honestly though, I never dreamed about kicking a last second field goal as a child!  I can't imagine being a place kicker in football.  If you kick the field goal, you are the hero, but if you miss?  Well, we've all seen how that one ends too.

Last night, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Wild Card Play-offs for the National Football League.   It wasn't a very close game.  The Cowboys' place kicker, Brett Maher missed four extra point attempts in a row.  Apparently, no one has ever missed four extra point attempts in a single game in the history of the league, and the last time anyone missed three attempts was in 1993.  Even worse, Maher had missed the last extra point attempt in his last game, so he really had missed five extra point attempts in a row!  Thankfully, he was successful on his fifth attempt last night.

Maher is otherwise a good place kicker.  During this past season, he made 50 out of 53 extra point attempts, and he holds the NFL record for most field goals over 60 yards (four).  Clearly he has the skill to be a successful place kicker in the NFL, so who knows what's going on with him.  

While I was watching the game last night, I came across a video of Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker kicking a 87 yard field goal during warm-ups.  Tucker currently holds the NFL record for the longest field goal (66 yards), but I am still quite impressed!  So, the question to ask is whether we will ever see an attempt of a field goal that long in an actual game?

I think in order to answer that question, we have to look at Brett Maher's struggles again.  Why is Maher missing his extra points?  Why will we likely not see a 87 yard field goal attempt in an actual game?  The answer is that there is a big difference between doing something in practice versus doing something in a game.  Everything is different - stress levels, crowd noise, opposing players are on the field, etc.  Some factors can be simulated in practice, but at the end of the day, the stress level in real life versus simulation/practice is just not something that can be replicated.

There is an old adage, "Practice makes perfect."  Well, maybe not perfect.  But practice is clearly important.  And no matter what you are doing, whether it is kicking a field goal, shooting a free throw in basketball, resuscitating a patient in the emergency room, or giving a speech in front of an audience, the closer that you can replicate true "game time" conditions during practice, the more prepared you will be for real life situations.