Sunday Was Hell Day For Kickers

“Professional football placekicker” has to be a tough job. Either you make all your kicks and people think you’ve done what’s expected of you, or you miss one (or two! Or three or four!) and you get trashed and maybe fired.

Yesterday was hell day for kickers. There were 19 missed kicks yesterday—12 field goals, seven extra points—including several potential game-winners. Today, the fallout from that: The Vikings cut Daniel Carlson, a fifth-round draft pick this season, after he missed three field goals in the team’s 29-all tie against the Packers yesterday. And the Browns cut Zane Gonzalez, who missed two field goals and two extra points in Cleveland’s 21-18 loss to the Saints.

But why does this need to be sad? Iffy kickers might mean more teams going for it on fourth down, which leads to more excitement, which leads to better football. Maybe. At least it leads to more ties, and everybody loves ties.

In the above video, we celebrate yesterday’s terrible day for kickers. Hey, at least no kicker retired mid-game.