A coworker and I were discussing, in lieu of the Vikings Seahawks game, why does the laces facing the wrong direction matter so much? Or is this an urban legend brought on by the Ace Ventura movie?
kicking question
- Thread starter OriginalEther
- Start date
I think it is mostly an urban legend that may be born out of some psychological factor to the kicker. Really, that was a short, chip shot kick. If laces causing maybe some unbalanced force or drag on the ball during the kick, I would think would only affect the kick on long kicks, where any factor would be multiplied.
I saw a tweet from Jay Feely yesterday who said kicking the laces impacts distance more than anything. From other stuff I read the holder was more inconsistent with the angle he was holding the ball but because the balls were like rocks and slippery from the extreme cold he was afraid to spin or move it much.
Ray Finkle is responsible for this rumor. Laces pointing back and even the ball tilted a little shouldn't have made him miss- at that range. He just miss kicked it. it happens.
FWIW keep in mind he scored all of their points on sunday, so while it's on him to make that kick....Teddy could have thrown 1 catchable ball into the endzone, or mr everything AP could have broken 1 tackle...
FWIW keep in mind he scored all of their points on sunday, so while it's on him to make that kick....Teddy could have thrown 1 catchable ball into the endzone, or mr everything AP could have broken 1 tackle...
I can tell you in soccer, the feel of the ball from PSI, to number of panels, to how light the ball felt, how heavy, how it moved on our feet, and what kind of spin or knuckle we could get on it. There were a lot of professional players complaining about the World Cup balls over the years.
Now I know one is round, and the other is not, and one has laces and the other doesn't. But kicking any ball has a certain feel to it, and laces on your foot as opposed to full leather panel would make a difference. Try punting a football with the laces on your foot, you will notice a difference.
It's not urban legend, if all place holders purposely spin the ball to get the full leather side. I know the kicker said he made a previous FG with the laces, but this time didn't. By kicking the laces, he missed. We can say it made a difference because he missed a very easy chip shot.
Now I know one is round, and the other is not, and one has laces and the other doesn't. But kicking any ball has a certain feel to it, and laces on your foot as opposed to full leather panel would make a difference. Try punting a football with the laces on your foot, you will notice a difference.
It's not urban legend, if all place holders purposely spin the ball to get the full leather side. I know the kicker said he made a previous FG with the laces, but this time didn't. By kicking the laces, he missed. We can say it made a difference because he missed a very easy chip shot.
I think there's something to the "kicking the laces" story, too, but maybe not on this particular kick.
As soon as he hit the ball, it was apparent that the kick was off target - waaay off target. I think he just struck the ball wrong.
Even the best kickers do it; this poor guy's time to do it was incredibly unlucky.
As soon as he hit the ball, it was apparent that the kick was off target - waaay off target. I think he just struck the ball wrong.
Even the best kickers do it; this poor guy's time to do it was incredibly unlucky.
plus the dude hit one from 40 plus earlier in the game with the laces facing him and it went right down the middle....who knows, this might be his preference....
If you look at the replay which they showed multiple times just as he was about to kick the ball his left ( plant foot) slipped a bit ( maybe frozen field) which may have caused the hooked kick.
It matters but not really at all with a kick that short. Walsh himself even said it was solely his fault. The guy just missed one of the easiest game winning kicks in NFL history. It was shorter than an extra point now is. It was just an awful kick, period.
Similar threads
