Today's Tidbit... The Tie Goes To The Kicker

Before free substitution, expanded rosters, and specialization, the game had football players who kicked rather than kickers who played football. Kickers were Swiss Army knives who did two or more things well rather than one.

Kickers did not practice their craft as often or as intensely as their other jobs, and the percentage of field goals and extra points made suffered as a result. Nearly every kicker used the conventional or straight-ahead approach rather than the sidewinding soccer style, mea...