Did David Akers just have the best single season of all time as a kicker?

by djfivenine on Jan 4, 2012 1:54 PM PST

As stated in a post by David Fucillo, David Akers just finished the season setting the NFL records for most field goals attempted (52) and made (44) as well as the most points by a player without scoring a touchdown (166).

So I wonder, did we just witness the best single season performance by a kicker ever?

Before making that decision, I looked at a few other kickers who could also be candidates for the best single season kicker performance.

Gary Anderson - Vikings - 1998

One year after G Anderson's fling with the Niners, he joined the Vikings, who were driven by Randal Cunningham, Cris Carter and the rookie phenom Randy Moss.

Gary Anderson kicked his way to perfection, going 35 for 35 on field goals and 59 for 59 on XPs. Scoring 164 points, which was the record for most points by a player without scoring a TD (at the time).

The argument against this season as the greatest season for a kicker would be that his 35 FGs attempted being a smaller amount of attempts compared to other kickers, and that he only attempted 2 FGs longer than 50 yards, giving him a great chance to make all his FGs. However, it is very tough to argue against perfection. There has only been 6 kickers in history of the game who managed to finish the season with a perfect kicking record, and there were only 2 on that list who had more than 20 attempts. One was Gary Anderson, the other one was the next guy I will talk about.

Mike Vanderjagt - Colts - 2003

Before becoming an "idiot kicker", Mike Vanderjagt managed to kick 37 for 37 on FGs and 46 for 46 on XPs. The most amount of FGs made by a kicker ever with a perfect percentage.

The argument against Vanderjagt is similar to Gary Anderson's argument. Which is the fact that he only had to attempt one kick that was longer than 50 yards, making his quest to perfection easier.

Neil Rackers - Cardinals - 2005

Neil Rackers finished the 2005 season going 40 for 42 on FGs and 20 for 20 on XPs. At that time, 40 was the record for the most FGs made in a season. Also, due to injury, Rackers had to miss one game in 2005 (vs the Niners of all teams). His sub, Nick Novak, finished the game going 3 for 3 on FG. So Rackers could have possibly had a better season if he did play that one game.

Ifs and buts aside, Rackers had a great year, his percentage on FGs 40+ yards is 91% compared to Akers' 65%. But his most impressive stat, which was the 40 FGs made, was surpassed by David Akers.

There were a lot of aspects of a great season I didn't look into. Like how many times did a kicker have to kick to win or tie the game in the 4th quarter, longest made FG, etc. But just looking at the stats I have in front of me, I would say that it is very possible to make an argument for all 4 of these kickers. I, for one, will always argue that I saw David Akers give the best single regular season of all time as a kicker.

Poll

Who had the best single regular season as a kicker?

David Akers - 2011

80 votes

Neil Rackers - 2005

14 votes

Mike Vanderjagt - 2003

5 votes

Gary Anderson - 1998

11 votes

110 votes | Poll has closed

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors.

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Comments

How many of those kickers threw a touchdown pass?

by mr. instigator on Jan 4, 2012 4:03 PM PST reply actions 4 recs

none

Akers also has a perfect career QB rating of 158.3, so take that Anderson and Vanderjagt

by reedkrase on Jan 5, 2012 2:35 PM PST up reply actions

We need to waive the Gary Plummer rule for this guy.

Call it the Deion Sanders rule: if you had one of the greatest seasons of all time as a 49er, you can make the NN all-time 49ers team even if you didn’t play four years.

We don't need 8 in the box. We have 52 in the box.

by these3words on Jan 4, 2012 4:28 PM PST reply actions

but...

I love joe nedney…

by djfivenine on Jan 4, 2012 4:35 PM PST up reply actions

Yeah..

I don’t think it’s fair to knock Nedney off the all-time list because Akers was the team’s top scorer for one season. If Akers lasts for a few more years, I’d consider it, but he belongs on the Eagles’ all-time greats. We’re just benefitting from his awesomeness.

by Rhombus on Jan 5, 2012 9:29 AM PST up reply actions

more like

benefiting from their stupidity to sign everyone in the world and let their kicker go.

by djfivenine on Jan 5, 2012 9:51 AM PST up reply actions

lol this

by mrg80 on Jan 5, 2012 11:53 AM PST up reply actions

Any of them with touchdown passes?

Case closed.

by Mindless on Jan 4, 2012 4:56 PM PST reply actions

missed Mike Cofer

poll is not valid

Follow @FLPReliableCPR

by mcwagner on Jan 4, 2012 5:31 PM PST reply actions 1 recs

Gary Anderson's choke doesn't fit in?

by mrg80 on Jan 4, 2012 5:39 PM PST reply actions

Even if some Kickers were perfect

More kicks made than other teams Kicker attempts speak alone.

Its a testament to great special teams and offense minus the red zone!!!!!!!!!

"Hey, the offensive linemen are the biggest guys on the field, they’re bigger than everybody else, and that’s what makes them the biggest guys on the field." ~ John Madden

by 49erfannm on Jan 4, 2012 6:51 PM PST via mobile reply actions

Not including the TD pass (or Kick offs)

Did Ackers even have the best PK season in the conference?

Barth (TB) made 26/28 (13/14 over 40, 2/3 over 50)
Gould (CHI) made 28/32 (6/6 over 50)

They were about as good as Ackers

In the AFC, Janikowski blows him away, and so does Rob Bironas.

The guy with the most RBIs is not the best hitter.

[Poorly Wrought THING] is what Brian Sabean would have made if he were a [THING-maker] instead of a MLB GM

by zenbitz on Jan 5, 2012 11:57 AM PST reply actions

Yea, but if you just broke the single season record for most RBIs in a season

you should be in the conversation of best single season as a hitter.

by djfivenine on Jan 5, 2012 12:55 PM PST up reply actions

no you shouldn't

[Poorly Wrought THING] is what Brian Sabean would have made if he were a [THING-maker] instead of a MLB GM

by zenbitz on Jan 5, 2012 1:48 PM PST up reply actions

Oh ok.

Thanks for clarifying that for me. Your argument was detailed and reasonable.

by djfivenine on Jan 5, 2012 2:13 PM PST up reply actions

sigh

total RBIs are not really relevant because RBI are dependent on getting ABs with runners on (and in scoring position). ABs, not PAs, because walks are much harder to get RBIs on, but almost always better than sac flies… but I digress. So (unless you hit a HR) you can’t get an RBI without someone ELSE on base. Similarly, you can’t kick a field goal successfully unless you attempt one (duh). This is fine if the attempts even out. But they don’t. Akers had more field goals attempted than anyone else in NFL history. So he SHOULD have broken the record!

Total Points or Total FGs made is not a good measure of a good kicker. Because it doesn’t count the (all time record) FG opportunities. I like Akers, he’s a very good if not great kicker. But he didn’t get the 49ers into field goal range 50+ times, nor did he call plays that would likely get FGs (instead of TDs) to not risk turnovers.

What you really want to do to compare FG kickers is to compare how many points they make compared to other kickers IN THE SAME SITUATIONS (i.e, counting number of attempts at each distance). So if you went 40 for 40 but never attempted a more than a 28 yard field goal, that would not be very impressive, because you’d expect most kickers to kick at least 38 of those.

[Poorly Wrought THING] is what Brian Sabean would have made if he were a [THING-maker] instead of a MLB GM

by zenbitz on Jan 5, 2012 2:34 PM PST up reply actions

50+ yard kicks is where i think Akers shows what a great asset he was this season

7 of 9 from 50+ yards and tied Gould’s record of being 6 for 6 from 50 + yards. Those are bonus points at distances most teams don’t even attempt a FG.

Janikowski’s best season (this season) he was 7 of 10 from 50+ yards.

http://www.nfl.com/player/sebastianjanikowski/2504257/careerstats
http://www.nfl.com/player/davidakers/2499370/careerstats

But I see your point, Janikowski and Akers had very similar seasons, just the 49ers gave Akers way more opportunities.

Also, note on comparing the two 40 to 49 yard range is really hard to judge a kicker by, a 40 yard FG should be in every time and a 49 yard FG is pretty hard. I always felt the categories should be 0-33, 34-45, 46+

by reedkrase on Jan 5, 2012 3:36 PM PST up reply actions

if you have a computer

then you don’t need yardage groupings at all. You can just do a calculation for each attempt vs. league average.
If you do this (Football Outsiders) then Janikowski was worth +17 points and Akers +7. (note that +7 is quite good, 5th or 6th in the NFL)

[Poorly Wrought THING] is what Brian Sabean would have made if he were a [THING-maker] instead of a MLB GM

by zenbitz on Jan 6, 2012 10:36 AM PST up reply actions

if you have a computer

I’ve been meaning to get one of those, you know how hard it is to upload comments on this blog by mail? takes forever to get them posted.

by reedkrase on Jan 6, 2012 1:33 PM PST up reply actions

by positiveuphemism on Jan 5, 2012 6:44 PM PST reply actions

some interesting info I found

you could definitely make a case for Akers as the 49ers MVP.

9/11 – 49ers defeat Seahawks 33-17. Akers kicks 4 FGs, including 3 in the 2nd quarter.
9/18 – Cowboys defeat 49ers 27-24 in OT. Akers kicks 1 FG, a 55-yarder with 11-minutes remaining in the 4th to give SF a 10-point lead.
9/25 – 49ers defeat Bengals 13-8. Akers kicks 2 FG for the difference.
10/2 – 49ers defeat Eagles 24-23. Akers kicks 1 FG.
10/9 – 49ers defeat Bucs 48-3. Akers kicks 2 FG, which are good enough to win the game.
10/16 – 49ers defeat Lions 25-19. Akers kicks 3 FG, including a 55-yarder to give SF the lead at the half.
10/30 – 49ers defeat Browns 20-10. Akers kicks 2 FG.
11/6 – 49ers defeat Redskins 19-11. Akers kicks 4 FG.
11/13 – 49ers defeat Giants 27-20. Akers kicks 4 FG.
11/20 – 49ers defeat Cardinals 23-7. Akers kicks 3 FG, provides the entire game’s scoring in the first half.
11/24 – Ravens defeat 49ers 16-6. Akers kicks 2 FG, provides 49ers’ only points with 45-yarder and 52-yarder.
12/4 – 49ers defeat Rams 26-0. Akers kicks 4 FG. 49ers needed only 1.
12/11 – Cardinals defeat 49ers 21-19. Akers kicks 4 FG but missed a very costly kick.
12/20 – 49ers defeat Steelers 20-3. Akers kicks 2 FG, provides game’s only scoring in the first half.
12/24 – 49ers defeat Seahawks 19-17. Again, Akers kicks 4 FG.

Maslow's theory of higher needs does not apply to Patrick Willis. He only has two needs: tackling people and finding people to tackle.

by 49erLou on Jan 5, 2012 7:36 PM PST reply actions