Michael David Smith ,
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A whole generation of football fans grew up knowing that Tom Dempsey’s 63-yard field goal in 1970 was not just the NFL record, but one of the most extraordinary feats in NFL history. But in the modern NFL, 63-yard field goals are so ordinary that one happened in a preseason game on Friday — and it wasn’t even the longest field goal of the day.
Titans kicker Joey Slye made a 63-yard field goal on Friday but was topped by Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey, who made one from 64. Neither was even close to the longest field goal of this preseason; that distinction belongs to Jaguars kicker Cam Little, who booted one from 70 yards.
NFL kickers are so good now that the very concept of the term “field goal range” has changed. It wasn’t long ago that until the ball got inside the 35-yard line, coaches wouldn’t even think about sending their field goal team onto the field. In the not-too-distant past, coaches would rather try a coffin-corner punt on fourth down than a field goal of 53 yards or longer. Now a kicker who can’t consistently make 53-yard field goals won’t have a job in the NFL for long.
The official NFL record for the longest field goal currently belongs to Justin Tucker at 66 yards, but that record won’t last for decades the way Dempsey’s record did. In fact, there’s a good chance that it will be broken this year. Little showed that NFL kickers can make field goals from 70 yards in game conditions, and on Friday night both Slye and Aubrey made their kicks with enough room to spare that both of them would have been good from at least 67 yards. (Slye also hit a 53-yarder in the same game that bounced off the top of the upright and through, and in the NFL the uprights extend 35 feet above the crossbar, so that kick had the distance to set a record as well.)
The field goal record is sure to be broken soon. The only question is which coach will give his kicker that opportunity, as the NFL is now full of kickers who have redefined field goal range.
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