Factoid
Justin Eleff mentions field goal accuracy in his column today, and how that position has become ruled by opportunity rather than talent. All of them are so good.
But the position is having an off year. Nick Folk and Lawrence Tynes are missing too many kicks, and five other teams have made performance-driven changes – Atlanta, Baltimore, Washington, Tampa Bay and New Orleans.
Below are the overall accuracy numbers for the league over the last 25 years. In each of the last five years, the group (as a whole) has set a record for accuracy, with it steadily climbing from 80.0 percent to 84.5 percent.
That will end this year. The league is currently at 80.8 percent, the lowest since 2003. But not that prior to 2004, only once ever had the league as a whole averaged 80 percent on field goals.
NFL FIELD GOAL ACCURACY, 1984-2009
Pct Year
72.2% 1985
68.6% 1986
70.3% 1987
71.7% 1988
72.5% 1989
74.4% 1990
73.5% 1991
72.6% 1992
76.6% 1993
78.9% 1994
77.4% 1995
80.0% 1996
78.1% 1997
79.6% 1998
77.7% 1999
79.7% 2000
76.3% 2001
77.5% 2002
79.2% 2003
80.8% 2004
81.0% 2005
81.4% 2006
82.8% 2007
84.5% 2008
80.8% 2009
—Ian Allan
- Comments [2]
Readers' Comments
Add a Comment
Already a registered user? Please sign in to add comments.
To add comments, you must become a registered user of our site. To register, please click here.
Posted by jason gingerich | Dec. 09 at 10:11 PM
One trend that is leading to the general increase in field goal accuracy is the fewer number of long field goal attempts (50+ yards.) Teams are going for the first down more often now than ever before, leading to a reduction in these attempts and a commensurate increase in overall accuracy.
Posted by IAN ALLAN | Dec. 17 at 12:52 PM
Jason: here are the totals for 50-yard field goal attempts over the last 10 years (1999-2008): 87, 68, 73, 85, 93, 91, 92, 85, 100, 104. So no, that's not it.