The Name Of The Game

This past weekend, my two favorite teams showed the importance of the kicking game in college and professional football.

The Cleveland Browns pulled out a last-second win over the Indianapolis Colts because placekicker Dustin Hopkins had an unbelievable day. By himself, he accounted for 15 points, going 4 for 4 on field goals and converting all three extra points he tried. Three of those field goals were over 50 yards long, including a 58-yarder. (I’m old enough to remember when making a 50-yard field goal was an exceptional feat, so it’s extraordinary to me that someone could do it three times in a single game.) The points notched by Hopkins kept the Browns in the game and allowed them to eke out a win with a last-second touchdown. In the meantime, Browns punter Corey Bojorquez punted five times, averaging 54.4 yards, with a long kick of 69 yards. When your offense is struggling, as the Browns’ offense has been for most of this season, having a punter who can drive the other team deep into their own territory is crucial.

Hopkins’ steadiness is in marked contrast to the inconsistency of the Browns’ prior kicker, Cade York. You never knew whether York would miss a chip shot or shank an extra point, deflating the fans and dispiriting the rest of the team. And having a sound, professional placekicker has also seemed to change the decision-making of coach Kevin Stefanski–who seems much more willing to trot out the field goal team and go for three points this season, rather than always trying to convert on fourth down, now that he knows he has a player who is likely to make those kicks. Hopkins has made 16 of his 18 field goal attempts this season, and Stefanski clearly has confidence in him. The pre-season decision to trade a 7th-round pick in the 2025 draft for Hopkins is looking like an incredibly good move by Browns’ General Manager Andrew Berry.

The Ohio State Buckeyes also showed the impact, both good and bad, of the kicking game in their win over Penn State. In my view, the key play of the game came when the Buckeyes were pinned deep in their own territory and punter Jesse Mirco launched a 72-yarder that totally flipped the field. I texted a friend that former Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel, who once famously remarked that the punt is the most important play in football, would have loved that punt and what it accomplished. The downside for the Buckeyes came when placekicker Jayden Fielding, who has been solid this season, missed a makeable field goal near the end of the game that would have put the contest on ice, giving Penn State hope and spurring them to score on a drive that made the final score closer than it needed to be.

Football is a team game, and special teams are an essential part of the sport. Week after week, the kicking game reminds us there’s a reason the sport is called “football.”

Shanking Into Football Season

Football season is just around the corner. I’ve been busy and therefore haven’t been paying a lot of attention to the training camp and preseason game news for the Cleveland Browns. What I’ve seen suggests that, as always, the credulous members of Browns Nation are approaching the coming season with their customary and incendiary mix of hope and optimism, expecting the Browns to be an offensive force and a defensive powerhouse that will roll through the season, make the playoffs, and–dare we say it?–finally allow the Browns to make it to the Super Bowl.

We’ve heard this song before. Cleveland Browns fans have a seemingly inexhaustible supply of positive thinking and an unparalleled ability to forget or rationalize away past disasters. Even those of us who have become more jaded by decades of disaster still feel that tiny tug of “maybe this could be the year” thinking.

So yesterday I watched parts of the Browns’ last preseason game, against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. The Browns lost, 33-32, but the first-team defense looked sharp against a Chiefs team that was playing without superstar QB Patrick Mahomes, and Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson made some plays on offense before the guys fighting for a roster spot took over the game. So, could this, actually, be the Browns’ year?

Not so fast! There was one glaring roster problem that should be obvious to any seasoned NFL observer: the Browns kicker, Cade York. Going into the game, he’d barely made 50 percent of his field goal kicks during the preseason, and he had missed two potential game-winners in the last preseason match-up. His first extra point effort yesterday was a dismal miss, too, and he had a potential game-winner blocked on a kick that didn’t look all that great, either. Something seems to be seriously wrong with his confidence, his fundamentals, and the other elements that go into being a dependable NFL kicker.

So what, you say: maybe the Browns’ defense will hold opponents’ scores down and the offense will put up huge numbers of points so the team will win every game by a comfortable margin. Regrettably, the NFL just doesn’t work out that way. In the period between 2000 and 2022, 23.22 percent of NFL games have been decided by three points or less. In a league where the margin of victory or defeat is so razor-thin, you’ve got to have a kicker you can count on to make the crucial game-winners. The reliability of the kicker will influence coaching decisions, end-of-game strategy, and countless other factors–and a demoralizing field goal or extra-point flub or two might snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and take the starch out of a team that otherwise could be a contender.

Would you count on Cade York to make a crucial kick? I wouldn’t, and I find it hard to believe that the Browns coaching staff or front-office would, either. I think it’s time for Cade to find another fan base to disappoint. There are lots of kickers out there, and if this is going to be “the year” the Browns need to find one who can deliver when the chips are down.