Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

http://www.talkoffamenetwork.com/state- ... of-debate/

"As he explained, Lowery had everything. He was the most accurate kicker of his era. He kicked outdoors, conquering the weather elements at Arrowhead Stadium. He had such a strong leg he could power field goals from 58 yards. And in PAL and PAL2 — Points Above the Average, a statistic invented by Rupert Patrick of Pro Football Researchers Association — Lowery was first."

JohnTurney wrote:a statistic invented by Rupert Patrick of Pro Football Researchers Association — Lowery was first."

I know that guy!!!!! Woo hoo--way to go Rupert!

John Turney is to modest to mention that he's also quoted in the article.

Congrats to two outstanding PFRA members!

Thanks to one and all.

I hope that with my upcoming book PAL and PAL2 will be accepted as the best way to evaluate kickers. The PAL (Points Above League) system is so simple I'm surprised nobody has ever came up with it before:

PAL = Kicker Extra Points + 3* Kicker Field Goals - ( Kicker Extra Point Attempts * League Extra Points Success Percentage) - 3* (Kicker Field Goal Attempts * League Field Goal Success Percentage)

This is done for each kicker for each season, and the League Success Percentage is the make divided by attempt for the season in question with the kicker's statistics removed. In this way, a kicker is being compared against the average of the rest of the league except for him during the season in question. For career stats, add up the PAL score for every season of his career. PAL is also easy to calculate because all you need are the league kicking stats for the season and the kickers stats and plug them in. If the PAL is positive, the Kicker is doing above average, and a negative PAL is below average. For career PAL, add up the PAL scores for each season of his career.

As far as best career PAL, Lowery is first with +132, Gary Anderson second with +115, then Groza +113, Morten Andersen +97, Bakken +97, Stenerud +96, Matt Stover +88, Fred Cox +84, Yepremian +74 and John Carney +70. Vinatieri is +57.

Worst career PAL is Greg Davis -66, Neil O'Donoghue -50, Michael Husted -49, Mike Cofer -45, Chris Bahr -44.

PAL2 is similar to PAL, only difference is that instead of lumping all field goal attempts together, the field goal attempts are all broken out separately by distance, and if a kicker attempts a 45-yard field goal, he is compared against how well the rest of the league (except for himself) did that season in 45-yard field goal attempts. In this way, PAL2 is much more accurate, but in order for it to work, we need the distances of all the missed field goals. As most of you know, I have been working on ascertaining the distances of missed field goals along with a number of other people for many years now. I am happy to announce that of the more than 15,000 missed field goals from 1938 thru 2016, we have been able to work that total of missed field goal distances down to about 425. Everything before 1982 is technically unofficial, of course.

Lowery leads in Career PAL2 with +136, followed by Morten Andersen +127, Groza +123 (but we are still seeking 21 of his missed FG distances which will change his totals), Stenerud with +120, Bakken +101, Jason Hanson +98, Gary Anderson +95, Sam Baker +80 (but his final total may change a little), Yepremian +76 (his final total may change a little too), and Blanda +73 (missing 19 of his missed FG distances, which will change his totals). Oh, by the way, Adam Vinatieri, rated 57th all time with a career PAL2 of 16.80.

Worst career PAL2 is Billy Cundiff with -46, followed by O'Donoghue -43, Steve Mike-Mayer -40, Greg Davis -39, and Cofer and Mike Nugent -38.

Nice job, guys!!

Congratulations, Rupert and John-- and thanks for giving a shout out for PFRA.