Place Kicking

A couple Outlaw kickers brought a large measuring tape to help practice place kicking.  This was at the old junior high school off of William Cannon.  The practice field was spartan - it had a goal post but the chalk yard line markers were gone.  The kickers used the tape to estimate where to place the ball for a typical field goal attempt.  They were incredulous at just how far and how high the ball would have to carry to split the uprights and score points. 

Something as simple as a PAT (point after touchdown) kick has to sail over twenty yards and clear the crossbar, ten feet above the ground.  The PAT is just a chip-shot among place kicks.  The ball is placed on the two yard line, the kick from around the fifteen yard line.  Field goals are much longer.  In the NFL field goals are routine at forty yards, and have been made at over fifty.  The record is 63 yards set originally by Tom Dempsey (against my Lions - I'll never forget that game) and later matched by two others (Jason Elam and Sebastion Janikowski). 

Field goal practice - Monica is the holder.  She has received the ball
from the center and is placing it on it's point for the kicker.

In my October 17 posting, "Why do we call it football" I discussed the difficulty of kicking the ball any distance at all.  I praised kickers for their tenacity in practicing kickoffs, often alone at the edge of the field, using a kicking tee and net, getting a running start of ten yards or more.  Practicing field goals is a whole different proposition.

Photographing  field goal practice gave me one of my favorite funny pictures. 

Field goals require a teammate to hold the ball for the kick.  The center snaps the ball to the holder who places it vertically on the ground for the kicker.  In my funny sequence, holder Monica has the ball in what appears to be an acceptable position.  Kicker - I don't know who was the kicker in this sequence - looks like she's zeroed in on the target. 

She missed it!  Note I'm trying to expand my mastery
of Photoshop by drawing arrows.  Not a very good
arrow, I admit, but give me time.  I'm an old dog
learning new tricks.  I'll get better.  The arrow points
to the ball still in the holders custody.

The next, the funny picture, has the kicker in her after-kick finish, form perfect,  proper follow through actually lifting her plant foot off the ground.  Just one problem.  She has missed the ball.

Whenever I view this photo I wonder if it was an intentional "dry run," or if it really was a miss.  If you see Monica, ask her about it for me.  She may remember. 

Field goal kicking has a dimension that adds to the difficulty of launching the ball high and far.  In field goal kicking you're dealing with a defensive line charge.  In another prior posting, "Quick," dated October 17, I commented on how fast things have to happen in the backfield - about three seconds.  In a field goal, the holder and kicker have about three seconds - holder to catch and place the ball, kicker to take three steps and nail it.  It is difficult enough to launch a ball with authority under any circumstance -but to do it that quickly?  No wonder sometimes the field goals miss the target, or the kickers don't make the kick at all.

When I first started visiting Outlaw games I noticed that often we'd run the ball in obvious kicking situations.  Fourth and eight at the 45 yard line.  Why not kick it?  Then I realized that it was difficult to find and recruit players with the requisite skills to kick the ball.  Often the run was chosen because of a lack of trust in the kicker.

More recently Amber Lyons has joined the team.  She can kick!   

Following are a couple kicking sequence photo sets.  The first... well, check 'em out:




Dallas #4 and #13 are closing in.  Amber's three seconds are
about up.  Looks like her foot is just making contact
with the ball.  Can she get it off in time? 





Nope.  Another chance to use my newly acquired Photoshop skills -
See the arrow pointing to where the ball landed - a blocked
field goal attempt.  




Kicking field goals is hard.  Sometimes the defense breaks through and makes the block.  But Amber doesn't get blocked all that often.  Check out the sequence below.

Monica has received the snap, placed the ball with point down, laces forward, just like in the NFL.  Amber
started toward the ball even before Monica had it set.  She has to be quick.  Note good blocking by the
Outlaw's line.

Soccer style kick.  Kind of sideways.  See right foot just in front of left leg and ball just leaving,
sailing up over the line.   When I first started watching football a hundred years ago, the kickers came straight at the ball.  Now they come at an angle.  Learning a lesson from soccer players who have a lot more kicking experience.

And it sails through the uprights just the way she planned.



I've never talked with Amber but have lots of photos of her kicking and making tackles on defense.  One of these days I need to resurrect my player profiles.  Maybe an interview with Amber will help us understand what it takes to master the art of kicking a football.

Random Fan Photo

Why Do We Call it Football? - Kicking, Part 1

The Kickoff

I Googled "How Many Kicks in a Football Game?"  No one answered me.  So I'll make up my own answer:

Not Many.

There are four situations in a football game where the foot connects with the ball:  kickoffs, field goals, PATs (points-after-touchdown), and punts.  In a typical game, there are not many kicks.  

Unlike soccer. 

In soccer kicking is the game.   I Googled "How Many Kicks in a Soccer Game?" and didn't get an answer.  So I'll make up my own answer:  A lot.

We could spend this blog considering why football is football and soccer isn't.  Instead, let's talk about kicking a football.  I'm going to do this in three posts, one for kickoffs, one for punting, and one for place kicking (field goals and PATs). 

This year the NFL moved the kickoff from the 30 to 35 yard line.  The thinking was that kickoff returns invite injury.  By moving the kickoff five yards closer to the opposite end zone, more kickoffs will result in touch backs - that is, more kickoffs will reach and even go through the opposite end zone and so kickoff receivers will elect to just down the ball in the end zone and have it put in play at the twenty yard line.  This will result in fewer kickoffs will being returned, fewer times the kickoff receiver will risk running the ball up field and attempting to get it further than the twenty.  And fewer returns means fewer injuries from open field tackles.

For our discussion here the significance of this rule is how far NFL kickers kick the ball.  When the ball is placed at the kicker's 35 yard line, the opposing end zone is 65 yards away.  The end zone is 10 yards deep so a kick that goes through the end zone travels 75 yards!

If you're feeling pretty good about yourself, if you're pretty self-satisfied and you need a little humiliation, go to the football field and kick the ball.  Set it on a tee and take as much of a running start as you want.  And you'll be shocked at how feeble your effort will be.  It will feel like kicking a sandbag.  I've confessed to not being an athlete, a reality I discovered by competing in many sports.  I know from personal experience how difficult it is to kick a football for any distance at all.  65 yards?!  How about 35? 

How do you get so you can kick a football far?  Practice.  Practice.  Practice. 

At Outlaws team practices, I normally shoot the scrimmage or pass receiving drills or blocking drills.  Once in awhile, I look over at the loneliest Outlaw, the kicker, off by herself, kicking, kicking, kicking. 

There is something wrong with picture.  Do you see it?
  

Now you see it don't you!  It looks like a good kick but 
she's using the wrong foot!  Kickers aren't left footed. 
(Hope you're impressed that I got the ball in the photo.)

Kicking with the right, right foot.  I'm certain it will go farther.

Can't tell from this photo but that ball is going places.  Not
65 yards.  More like 35 yards - which is farther than I could kick it
myself.

The photos above were early in the Outlaws history.  Kickers
would have to run to retrieve the balls.  Secretly they may have
tried not to kick too far to reduce chasing time and distance.
More recently the kicker is provided a fancy net.  Kick into the net and
you don't have to chase the ball 35 yards down the field. 

I couldn't resist attempting photos through the net.  Not as cool as I had hoped but still an interesting
perspective on the kicker kicking.

Watching kickers practice inspires my respect in these remarkable women.  I've rarely seen a coach working with the kicker.  Having a separate kicking coach is a luxury not available to many women's professional teams.  There aren't may kicks in a game so the coaching is focused on where most of the action is.  So kickers don't get much coaching.

Kickers motivate themselves, coach themselves, practice by themselves.  It is hard work kicking, retrieving, teeing up, kicking again.  Time after time after time. 

When you watch the opening kickoff or kickoff after a score, cheer for the kicker.  She worked hard to master a really difficult skill.  Looks easy on television or at an NFL game.  It isn't.

Random Fan Photo

Bridgette Brown - Part 2

A couple years ago I met Bridgette Brown at Starbucks for an interview in anticipation of doing a featured player article about her for the Outlaws website.  Lots of things changed after the interview so the profile never got written, much less published.   She impressed me by her unassuming quiet manner.  Even at the young age of twenty-five she had experienced more than her fair share of difficult times in her life.  Her dealing with personal challenges reveal an internal strength and character that won both my admiration and respect.

Her mild manner in the coffee shop belied her ferocity on the football field.  I had first noticed her when I saw opponent runners suddenly stopped and dropped when they had the misfortune of encountering Bridgette. 

This is becoming a photo blog.  I want to write a profile on Bridgette but a whole lot of her story comes through in photographs.  I posted some shots Friday.  Today some more.

If you have the football, chances are you'll be meeting Bridgette.
She ranges all over the field, making open field tackles...

It takes something special for a large (210 pound) tackler like
Bridgette to run down and grab a smaller, presumably quicker
ball carrier.  But she does it over and over and over.

And when she catches the runner, the runner is going to go down.

If Bridgette gets to the runner first, she probably won't need help.

But if it a gang tackle, she's more than willing to be in the center
of things, sometimes sacrificing herself by pulling the runner
down on top of her.

Blocker in the way?  No problem.  Just run over her.

And another runner hits the earth.

In still photos it is difficult to portray just how much strength
is being employed in making tackles on the field...  But let's
try.  This photo is the first of two.  Check out the second...

Bridgette's tackle lifts the runner off the ground (before putting her on the ground). 
Note both of the runner's feet are in the air.

This is a different runner, a different tackle.  Notice again, even more clearly, the runner is airborne -
briefly.  She's about to collide with the ground.  Once Bridgette gets hold of  you, you are going down.

Is this the quiet shy young woman I interviewed in Starbucks that day?

So quiet in the coffee shop, so fierce on the football field.  Such a devastating tackler.  In the earlier posting about Bridgette, the final photo is her helping another runner go airborne before going down.  Bridgette is powerful.  Bridgette works hard, covering the entire field, the open areas and the trenches. 

If I started a football team Bridgette would be in my starting lineup.   

Random Fan Photo

Bridgette Brown

There is no athlete on the Outlaws I admire any more than Bridgette Brown.

Bridgette waiting to get out on the field.

Someday I want to do a player profile on Bridgette Brown.  She has a remarkable story to tell.  I've interviewed her once.  I need to follow-up, update my information, get her permission to write about some of her life experiences - she is a remarkable individual.  She has come through some difficult times. 

She is a great football player, the most sure tackler on  the Outlaws team.  I first noticed her when I saw an opponent running back disappear.  One minute she was there, the next she was gone, on the ground.  A little later the same thing - runner is there, runner is on the ground.

I asked someone "what happened?"  Answer:  Bridgette Brown.

Instead of writing lots of words about Bridgette, I'm just going to post some photos.  These photos are mostly from a single season, 2009.  In a future posting I'll include more Bridgette photos.  I have a bunch.

First of two - when Bridgette has you in her sights you aren't
going to escape.





Second of two - Bridgette power driving through the runner,
pushing her backwards and eventually to the ground.



First of three - Bridgette has the runner trapped between Grif
and the sideline. 



Bridgette wraps her arms around the runner in a big
bear hug.



And drags the runner to the ground.  Notice this tackle took
place on the far sideline.  The other was in the middle of the line.
Bridgette covers the entire field.  One of the things I admire
about her is her hustle.  If you have the ball, she's coming to
get you.  Whereever you are.

I think this was Dallas in 2008 - runner
isn't going to escape once Bridgette
has wrapped her up. 



Number 3 is Soho, the only other Outlaws tackler I'd consider as
strong as Bridgette.  And Dallas' #11 is in big trouble - 
the Outlaw's two top tacklers are closing in on her.





Soho and Bridgette making the tackle.  Notice only Bridgette has a foot on the ground.



Another shot from 2008 - open field tackling is difficult.  Especially when
you're a 200 pound linebacker going after an elusive light-weight runner.

But if Bridgette can get a hand on you, you're going down.

And you may even lose the ball in the process.



I've been watching and photographing Bridgette for several years.  She is quiet (her email address is "Meakness" - but on the field she is anything but meek).  She is an amazing athlete.  This past season coach used her at running back.  I couldn't be a coach if my life depended on it so I shouldn't question decisions of someone smarter than I am - but to me Bridgette belongs on defense making splendid tackles.

More on her in future posts.