About the author

czabe

Steve Czaban is a 25 year sports radio veteran, who hosts an afternoon drive show in Washington D.C. "Czabe" also writes and edits his own commentaries for www.czabe.com and other on-line and print publications. He can be reached at czabe@yahoo.com.

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8 Comments

  1. 1

    Tick Tock

    I don’t pretend to know if it works or doesn’t. What I do know is how big of a horses a$$ a coach looks when he calls a TO a millisecond before the kick only to have the kicker miss, get a do over and then nail it down the pipe. HA!!
    Dan Baileys kicking form is reminiscent of Freddy Couples swing. Fluidity.

    Reply
  2. 2

    Chad

    Czabe – I think you might be caught in the “past results do not change future odds” mistake. If you flip a coin and get heads 9 times in a row – it’s still 50% the next flip. The data suggests icing creates an edge. Almost negligible for shorter kicks – but, expands with the distance. Makes sense if you think of the angles to hit the uprights and how margin of error narrows as you back up. Situational – but, I’m taking that 5% if I’m a coach (sorry audience).

    Reply
  3. 3

    Chris

    It sure worked against the Redskins kicker in London. Ended in a tie with Cincy b/c he couldn’t hit two 34-yarders in a row after Lewis iced him.

    Reply
  4. 4

    Pat McAfee

    I’d love to see more stats on this. I’ve always thought it was a bad idea. Missing the kick just before the timeout is called gives kicker a chance to make adjustments (wind, turf conditions, ballsack, whatever..). If you make the first one you’re likely dialed in for the second.

    Reply
  5. 5

    Scott Ehlke

    It’d be interesting to bring in a stat on how many of the ‘iced’ field goals were kicked and missed, then the real one made… Imagine if Crosby’s first attempt had sailed wide right, then he made the real one. Cowboy nation would be pissed…or more pissed than they already are.

    Reply
  6. 6

    dan

    rough day. i live in tucson and have been listening to 980 5-6 years (not long compared to most). always liked andy. radio is a tough ass biz.

    Reply
  7. 7

    H

    I’d try a different strategy. I’d try my best to make the kicker fully believe that I’m going to call a time out, but then not call it. Hopefully, that could mess with his pre-kick routine. The timeouts are dumb nowadays, in my opionion, because smart teams are ordering their center to snap a practice kick when the timeout whistle blows.

    Reply
  8. 8

    Jon in Indy

    I maintain I read a WSJ article with real numbers about this in the 2000’s. I tried to find it once, but could not locate it with searches. Verdict: icing kickers works. About a 2% advantage in that article.

    Reply

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