Don’t let Pittsburgh Steelers special teams coordinator Danny Smith hear you say that field goals have become too easy. Don’t even think about suggesting that the NFL do something to increase the difficulty, like narrowing the goalposts. The man has dedicated his professional life to this craft, and nobody knows better how much goes into making a field goal look easy.
“I’m a bad guy to ask about that, and I’ll tell you why,” Smith told reporters on Wednesday when asked for his opinion about whether fields goals have become too easy for today’s kickers. “One of the worst statements that I ever hear when I watch a broadcast is a ‘chip shot’. There’s a process on these kicks. I think it’s become easier because the players are more detailed in their work.”
Danny Smith has benefited from some great kickers during his time with the Steelers, particularly now. Chris Boswell is the fifth-most accurate kicker in NFL history, currently 23-for-24 this season. He is also 6-for-7 from 50-plus yards, his lone miss from 62, earning AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for the second time in a row. In his 10 NFL seasons, he has connected on at least 90 percent of his field goals seven times. He is connecting on 95.8 percent this year, which would be a new career high. He is also on pace to threaten the NFL’s scoring record and on pace to shatter the single-season field goal record (44), on track for 49.
It is worth noting that each of the top seven most-accurate kickers in NFL history are players. The only one in the top 12 who didn’t kick into the 2020s is Mike Vanderjagt. So there is certainly a point to be made about how kickers are doing better than ever before. But that’s not something you penalize them for, Danny Smith says.
“The game hasn’t changed, the fields haven’t changed, the goalpost hasn’t changed,” Smith told reporters. “The weather hasn’t changed. None of those things have changed. So how has it become proficient? Only through their work. I don’t believe that it’s easier. I just believe in the work ethic of these holders, kickers, and punters throughout this league.”
NFL kickers of today are better because they invest more in their craft than previous generations. The NFL takes the kicking game more seriously and dedicates more resources to it than ever before. Danny Smith even talked about how when he first broke into the NFL, teams just wanted him as the special teams coordinator to not screw things up. Now he is impacting the outcome of games on any given week. It’s a golden era for special teams, and that’s because those performing in that phase of the game are finally being taken seriously.
“They work their butt off to make it more easy or natural or whatever term you want to use,” Danny Smith explained. “There ain’t no chip shot, man. There’s a process here. And it’s difficult, but these players have perfected it.”
