Sunday...it's for kickers

Most people don't realize the value of a kicker until he has to make a kick at the game for a win. But this weekend proved kickers are valuable to any team. This is proven by University of Washington's Erik Folk. He kicked the game winning field goal against #3 ranked USC. No one before the game would have thought of Folk as the key to UW's win.

Sunday was an even better day to look at the value of kickers. 4 games had more field goals than touchdowns including two games with only one touchdown. Scores of the games were rather low...Jets beat the Patriots 16-9 (it is the first time the Patriots have not scored a touchdown since 2006). The Redskins fared better than the Patriots with the same score 9, beating the Rams 9-7. So that is two teams with three field goals and opportunities in the red zone. The Raiders and Chiefs also had a game dominated by field goals with a final score of 13-10. With quarterbacks such as Tom Brady and Mark Sanchez and running backs like Clinton Portis, Larry Johnson and Darren McFadden; one would assume that you could finish in the red zone.

To further the argument that kickers are football players, three games came down to field goals in the fourth quarter to win the game. Lawrence Tynes of the NY Giants ruined the NFL debut of the new Cowboy stadium with a field goal at the end of the game to win 33-31. Houston beat the Tennessee with a field goal on their second to last possession of the game. This field goal was the only score for either team in the 4th quarter. And finally, the Steelers/Bears game. Robbie Gould was able to make a field goal with 15 seconds left in the game to win 17-14. In the game, the Steelers' kicker Jeff Reed missed two field goals in the fourth quarter that could have won the game for the Steelers. Reed has a history of being a consistent kicker, with only two season below 80% conversion record and three season over 85%. Reed said after the game that if one player can be blamed for the loss that he would take it. Reed, Gould, and Tynes show the value of a kicker.

We will have to watch the rest of the season to see how the kickers impact the season. For kicker impact one needs only too look at Adam Vinatieri and his playoff heroics, the history between Florida State and Miami (wide right), and Scott Norwood and the Buffalo Bills.

Stay tuned for Tuesday posts for the next couple of months talking NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup.