What is interesting about David Akers this season versus last season is that he attempted 10 more field goals last season and made 15 more of them.

If we look at those yardage categories, his stats as far as percentage are pretty much the same in both seasons for most of the yardage categories. He’s at 85% or above in the first three categories in both seasons and when you get to 40-49 yards he’s at approximately 54% in both seasons, so a dramatic drop off past the 40 yard line but this applies to both seasons.

The difference is in the 50+ yards category. Last season Akers attempted 9 field goals at or greater than 50 yards and made 7 of them for 77.8%. This season Akers attempted 6 field goals at or greater than 50 yards and made 2 of them for 33.3%.

That by itself explains most of the 15% drop off from last season to this.

I think this entire Akers issue has been blown out of proportion. Last season he got lucky with the long kicks and not so much this season. For all kicks under 40 yards for last season and this he’s at 96.9% and 87.0% respectively which is more than respectable.

These stats also show that we have attempted less field goals this season, especially 50 yards or more which might be interpreted that our Red Zone completion percentage was greater this year than last. We have definitely scored more points this year than last, with a smaller percentage of these points being field goals.

How we end drives is critical. We try to end them with a touchdown or a field goal. If we can’t get the touchdown then getting the field goal inside the 40 should have an 87 percentile of success.