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Should I Really Ice the Kicker? · NFL explained.

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• 1:11
  Speaker 1: hang on the bears called time out. That does not
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: count beckers. So we've all seen it. The final few
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: seconds of a close game. The kicker lines up for
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a make or break field goal, heart rates starts spiking,
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  Speaker 1: the blood pressure starts creeping up, only to hear a
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  Speaker 1: whistle the defense calls a time out prior to an
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  Speaker 1: important kick, and in football vernacular, this is what we
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  Speaker 1: call I sing the kicker. Welcome my friend, Mike Yam.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: How are you doing today? I'm doing great. When you
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  Speaker 1: talk about the heart rate spiking and the blood pressure going,
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  Speaker 1: are you talking about the fans or the kicker, because
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  Speaker 1: I think you're describing me while I'm watching some of
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  Speaker 1: these guys line up only to hear that whistle go
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  Speaker 1: off goal. Here we go again, here's the icing. I'm
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  Speaker 1: a dad kinka balla. That is my dear, dear friend,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Mike Yam. And today we're going to talk about exactly that.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Whose heart rate goes up, who gets irritated? And as
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  Speaker 1: common as this has become, we really need to answer
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  Speaker 1: the question does the psychological warfare of icing the kicker
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  Speaker 1: actually work? Mike? We're going to dive into the origins
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  Speaker 1: of this. We're going to take a look at what
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  Speaker 1: the stats say, We'll find out what a few coaches
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  Speaker 1: and players have to say, and then I am going
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  Speaker 1: to see where you line up on this. If you
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  Speaker 1: are a head coach, are you waving your hand and
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  Speaker 1: calling time or are you just saying let it be okay.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to give anything away a d D.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, I'm a numbers guy. I love the analytics,
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  Speaker 1: and if I was a head coach, I'd be leaning
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  Speaker 1: on some of those analytics. But I think it's really
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  Speaker 1: important to DD to explain the statistical parameters surrounding a
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  Speaker 1: kick and being classified as icing the kicker so a team,
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  Speaker 1: because I always thought it was like, Yo, call time
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  Speaker 1: out right before the guy lines up, that's ice in
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  Speaker 1: the kicker. And yes, while that is a part of it,
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  Speaker 1: two minutes are less remaining in regulation or at any
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  Speaker 1: point in and overtime, that also is considered icing the kicker.
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  Speaker 1: And if the kicking team has a max lead of
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  Speaker 1: eight or if they're down by three. And it's actually
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  Speaker 1: believed that one of the first known instances of a
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  Speaker 1: kicker being ice is maybe one of the most famous
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  Speaker 1: field goal attempts in NFL history. I actually remember being
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  Speaker 1: in one of my best friends basements at the time
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  Speaker 1: watching the Super Bowl January seven. Don't ask me what
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  Speaker 1: I was wearing that day. But it's Super Bowl Bills
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  Speaker 1: and Giants and Buffalo kicker Scott Norwood lines up for
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  Speaker 1: a forty seven yard field goal attempt with just eight
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: seconds left to play. Parcels wants a time out to
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  Speaker 1: make Nora would think it's going to be a forty
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  Speaker 1: seven yard field goal attempt. Rank Rank will be the holder.
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  Speaker 1: When the ball is snap time out, New York, eight
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  Speaker 1: seconds left, Adam Lingner will snap it no good. But
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  Speaker 1: dd I made reference to being in my best friend's
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  Speaker 1: basement at the time. It was like one of the
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  Speaker 1: first Super Bowl memories that I can come up with,
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  Speaker 1: and certainly a memorable one for a lot of different reasons.
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  Speaker 1: But Bill Parcels tells one of his players on the
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  Speaker 1: field to call a time out to make him think
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  Speaker 1: about it a little bit longer. Norwood's kick obviously sales
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  Speaker 1: to the right Parcels he gets the gatorade bath. There's
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  Speaker 1: pictures all over social media, all right. There was no
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  Speaker 1: social at the time, but if there was, you would
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  Speaker 1: have seen it, trust me. Nor would he ends his
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  Speaker 1: career sixty on field goals from forty to forty nine
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  Speaker 1: yards out. But maybe those extra few seconds to think
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  Speaker 1: about it a d D might have actually had a
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  Speaker 1: huge effect on the result of that kick, maybe, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and I can't find we of course couldn't get ahold
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  Speaker 1: of Scott Norwood, and I can't find any reference to
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  Speaker 1: whether he said that did indeed screw with him. But
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  Speaker 1: I will say that after that we started seeing more
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  Speaker 1: coaches do it. And you know, like, let's go back
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: to the Raiders trying to get into Adam Vinytari's head
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  Speaker 1: during the famous Tuck Rule game in the snow. Of
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  Speaker 1: course we always talk about it as the Tuck Rule.
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  Speaker 1: It's a divisional playoff matchup between the Raiders in New
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  Speaker 1: England two thousand two. Well, you see John Gruden yelling
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  Speaker 1: his players he wants to take a time out. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I've talked to kickers situations like this. Let's say, when
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  Speaker 1: you get ice, does it bother you? When they do,
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  Speaker 1: then they go no, they love it. It just gives
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  Speaker 1: them more time to prepare and get ready for the kick.
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  Speaker 1: So ultimately it didn't matter. Vinetary delivered the game winner,
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  Speaker 1: and then he did the exact same thing after being
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  Speaker 1: quote unquote ice in Super Bowl thirty eight. Two years
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  Speaker 1: later in two thousand four, he hit the game winner
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  Speaker 1: against the Panthers. And you know, Vinytary was of course
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  Speaker 1: known for making the big kicks his whole entire career,
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  Speaker 1: whether he's ice, whether he's not, whatever. But today, think
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  Speaker 1: about how many times we see a coach sprint down
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  Speaker 1: a sideline to call a time out just before the
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  Speaker 1: ball is snapped. You made this point before Bill Parcels
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  Speaker 1: had to tell one of his players, because until two
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  Speaker 1: thousand six, Mike, it was only players on the field
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  Speaker 1: who are allowed to call that time out. Oh, Bill Parcels,
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  Speaker 1: just ahead of the game's abundantly clear. All right. So
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  Speaker 1: the more recent generation of icing from the sideline was
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  Speaker 1: actually started by Mike Shanahan in week number two of
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  Speaker 1: the two thousand six season. Shanahan actually iced Oakland kicker
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  Speaker 1: Sebastian Janikowski, who, by the way, you could just drill them,
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  Speaker 1: it felt like from miles away. He actually put a
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  Speaker 1: fifty two yard or through the uprights as the whistle
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  Speaker 1: was blown on the rekick he missed, and the coach
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  Speaker 1: icing floodgates were certainly open. In fact, and this is
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  Speaker 1: kind of a cool little tidbit here. Adity Oakland coach
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  Speaker 1: Lane Kiff and whose team was on the receiving end
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  Speaker 1: of that Shannahan icing got a little bit of revenge
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  Speaker 1: the very next week when the Ice Cleveland's Phil Dawson
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  Speaker 1: that led to a blocked kick upon that retry, and
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  Speaker 1: in the postgame press conference, Kiffen actually said I learned
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  Speaker 1: that from Mike, referring to Shanahan. Thanks Mike, And if
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: you follow Lane Kiffin on social media, you know he's
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: got no problem trolling anyone. I can't imagine if that
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: was if Twitter was around at that point, some of
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  Speaker 1: the tweets that coach Kiffin would have been sending out
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  Speaker 1: after icing a kicker and it working well, Mike, don't
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  Speaker 1: they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: another cliche for us in the NFL it is a
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  Speaker 1: copycat league. So of course Lane Kiffin saw what Mike
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  Speaker 1: shanahand did, how it worked, he would try it again.
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  Speaker 1: But let me tell you this, the act of icing
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  Speaker 1: a kicker was not without controversy. You know, just a
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  Speaker 1: year after a rule was implemented to allow coaches to
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  Speaker 1: call time outs on the sideline and not just require
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  Speaker 1: their players on the field to do it, there was
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  Speaker 1: actually a conversation that the NFL should perhaps ban icing
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  Speaker 1: the kicker. So in two thousand seven, at the time,
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  Speaker 1: the head of officiating was Mike Pereira, and Mike Pereira said,
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  Speaker 1: then it is the unintended consequence of a good rule change,
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  Speaker 1: and what he meant was the ability for coaches to
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  Speaker 1: call time outs. He said, I don't think any of
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  Speaker 1: us projected it would be used this way. It us
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  Speaker 1: doesn't seem right. But kicker J Feely at the very
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  Speaker 1: same time that same year says, look, I understand the strategy.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time, there are a lot of plays
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  Speaker 1: that the NFL has outlawed because they say it is
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  Speaker 1: deceptive in nature. I think this falls under the same category.
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  Speaker 1: It's deceptive. Is it actually really deceptive? It's got that vibe,
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  Speaker 1: but it's Look, it's not illegal to do it, and
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  Speaker 1: this is kind of how the rules have played out.
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  Speaker 1: I understand why people would get upset, especially if I
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  Speaker 1: was a kicker having to think about that kick and
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  Speaker 1: be knocked out of my normal routine. But is that
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  Speaker 1: not part of your job to be so mentally tough
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  Speaker 1: that no matter what, you have to nail that kick. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: that is a part of your job. But the problem
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  Speaker 1: is not everyone is mentally tough enough to be able
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  Speaker 1: to handle those situations. An NFL kicker, well, every team
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  Speaker 1: needs a kicker. I mean, isn't that the difference between
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  Speaker 1: Justin Tucker and you know, some of these other people,
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  Speaker 1: but there's only one. Justin Tucker is the problem and
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  Speaker 1: someone still needs to go out there and kick. I'm
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  Speaker 1: with you, there is there's some gamesmanship surrounding this, but look,
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  Speaker 1: the leagues just said, look like this is what the
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  Speaker 1: deal is and allowed Ice and to continue, and it's
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  Speaker 1: blessed us with I think some of the cool memorable
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  Speaker 1: moments that we've seen in the past, don't kay, who
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  Speaker 1: kick a successful forty nine yard or only to have
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  Speaker 1: the time out by Jason Garrett force him to do
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  Speaker 1: it again? Mrs Like, how insane is that? That was
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  Speaker 1: two thousand eleven and Cowboys coached Jason Garrett actually iced
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  Speaker 1: his own kicker, Dan Bailey nailed the forty nine yard er,
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  Speaker 1: but Garrett had called a time out and on the
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  Speaker 1: re kick he missed, and so Arizona beat Dallas in overtime.
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  Speaker 1: That's one of those moments where you say to yourself,
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  Speaker 1: it's like when of coaches on the sideline and his
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: player does something that you don't like and you're like no, no, no,
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  Speaker 1: But then it works out and go, oh, yes, that's okay.
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  Speaker 1: This is sort of like that, except it's the exact opposite.
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  Speaker 1: So certainly a buzz kill from that perspective, but it
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  Speaker 1: did give us one of those cool little moments. But
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  Speaker 1: there was all so the wild card game between the
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Bears and the Eagles, Chicago's Cody bark He actually drilled
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  Speaker 1: a forty three yarder just as a time out was called,
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  Speaker 1: but upon the rekick, we got this, and that's impossible.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. The Bears season's gonna end on a
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  Speaker 1: double doing mike if you ask anybody right now. Of course,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: we all think of that as the double doink, and
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: they will live forever in Bear's lowre But let me
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: tell you there is actually a version of a double doink.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Even before that two thousand seven, Joe Gibbs, he was
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: so excited about the prospect of icing Buffalo kicker Ryan Lindell.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: That is, Lindall lined up for a potential fifty one
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  Speaker 1: yard game winning field goal, gives called the time out,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: but as the Bills lined up again, he called a
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  Speaker 1: second time out. Mike, take a list of Washington right,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: not called consecutive trying out for in this case trafrezer
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: kicker hard rule. This is unsupposed were like conduct fifteen
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: yard automatic pisture and guess what happened, Mike. Instead of
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: a fifty one yard field goal, it turned into a
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: thirty six yard field goal, and of course Lindell put
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: it through for the wind. Uh. Good effort by coach Gibbs.
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  Speaker 1: Not the worst idea in the world. If you probably
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: knew the rule, he would not have executed that second
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: time out, But nonetheless, it was definitely one of those
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  Speaker 1: unforgettable moments. But there's obviously a ton of instances where
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  Speaker 1: a kicker might melt under the pressure of being iced,
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  Speaker 1: and others are known for having ice in their veins.
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  Speaker 1: But what do the numbers say A D D The
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: numbers they speak volumes? Are kickers really affected by the
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: simple act of a short interruption to their pre kick ritual?
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Coming up after the break the data it doesn't lie.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Does icing the kicker actually work? We have the answer
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  Speaker 1: to NFL explained We're in search of the answer to
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: this very key question, Michael, Yeah, does I sing the
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: kicker actually work? So in two thousand seven, Mike then
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: head coach Jeff Fisher, who was part of the NFL's
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: competition committee, said, I think as soon as a head
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: coach Ice is a kicker and the kick is ment
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: and then re kicked and made, we're just not going
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: to see this ever again. But whoa was Coach Fisher
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: are wrong? Mike. Icing has been rampant across the league.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: So let's do one of your favorite things. Let's go
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: ahead and do a data dive and see if I
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Sing the Kicker actually works. I'll go back to what
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: you laid out at the very top of the show.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: The statistical parameters when we are considering icing means that
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: there have to be less than two minutes remaining in
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: regulation or we need to be an overtime. The kicking
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: team can't be up by any more than eight, and
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: the kicking team's max's hole can't be any greater than three. So,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: according to this definition above, there have been five hundred
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: and forty one instances of icing since that includes the playoffs,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: and so, drum roll, mike, what does the data say
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: about those five hundred and forty one instances of ice? Okay,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. I saw these numbers and I
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: almost don't want to give them because I can't get
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: over what the results are. I almost don't believe it.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: But I know our research team is phenomenal and they
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: wouldn't lie to us, and they wouldn't lie to our listeners.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: But let's take a look at some of these numbers.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Since ninety three, in the field goal range between twenty
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: and twenty nine yards, kicks that were iced were converted
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: nine percent of the time not iced three percent of
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: the time. So there is a little bit of a
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: difference in that range that does favor maybe ice and
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: the kicker. In some of those moments from thirty to
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: thirty nine yards, kickers buried ninety one percent of their
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: field goals when they were iced eighty five percent when
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: they were not iced, which is sort of an interesting development.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: From forty to forty nine, they bury sixty six percent
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: of their field goals when they're iced versus sixty nine
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: percent when they're not iced, and then fifty plus yards
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: fifty one percent they convert when they're iced, fifty percent
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: when they're not. So over all, when you kick and
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: you're iced, you'll still be able to hit it seventy
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: of the time, not iced seventy six per cent. So
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: there's just a little bit of statistical differences overall, and
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: I guess we net out at it really doesn't matter
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: in fact, on those kicks once again, a fifty plus yards,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: those are the ones that feel the most pressure. Kickers
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: are actually making more kicks when they are ice, which
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: once again and Ded, I almost can't wrap my head
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: around it because I think about the n b A
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: and guys when they're trying to knock down free throws
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: and coaches that call timeout. So you think about those
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: free throws, I feel like it is so abundantly clear
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: that icing free throw shooters actually has a bigger effect,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: And that's why I want to say these kickers are
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: feeling it, but the numbers they don't say that that's
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: the case of d D okay, So Mike, it actually
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: seems that if you give the kicker a little bit
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: more time, a little bit more time to account for
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: the wind, to gauge for the wind, to figure out
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: what the field is like, to think, it might be better.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: And I have another piece of evidence for that. We
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: had our stats. You get even more granular, so we
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: looked at if there was only five seconds or less
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: remaining in regulation. Since kickers have made seventy two point
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  Speaker 1: one per cent of their kicks when they were iced
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: with five or less seconds remaining in regulation. If they
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: were not iced, they made only sixty eight point eight
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: percent of their kicks. So kickers are actually more successful
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: when they are iced on kicks that are essentially the
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: final play of the game. A little extra time may
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: not be a bad thing. Almost don't believe it, Like
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: I know, the numbers are the numbers. I just it's
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: hard for me to wrap my head around the fact
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: that icing is not really affecting some of these kickers.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: And maybe because there is a robotic nature to it.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like I d Every time. You know,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: you and I have been on a football field and
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: you see the preparation in the setup. It's the same
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: routine every single time. And I think that's why I
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: feel like, if you used the kicker, you're messing up
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: the routine. But I guess the reality is it's not
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: having as much of an effect as I think coaches
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: feel like, and certainly that that I thought heading into
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: the show. Well, it's the same thing that you just said, right,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: You called it robotics. So what difference does it make
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: if you do it now or if you do it
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: five seconds from now or thirty seconds from now, or
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: you know, a minute from now. We talked about Adam
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Venytarian earlier. Obviously, no kicker has been ice more than
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: the NFL's all time leading scorer thirteen times. He was
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: iced in his career. Ten of the thirteen he converted.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: But you know, the most ice called kicker of all
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: time actually is Matt Prader, who was ice ten times.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: And go ahead, give me a guess on those ten,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: how many did he actually convert? Nine ten? Five of
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: them were for more than forty yards. That's ice in
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: the veins. David Acres, he was ten for eleven in
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: his career on his icing attempts. And then of course
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Justin Tucker, friend of the po our dear friend, who
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: of course was on our third podcast ever, all on
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: goal posts. Well, he's the NFL's most accurate kicker of
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: all time. Nobody's even bothered icing him since two thousand sixteen.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: And I'll tell you this way back in two thousand thirteen,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: he was asked about being iced, and he said exactly
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: what I just said to you earlier. Tucker said, if anything,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: it gives you a little bit more time to pick
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: out your aiming point. I don't think it has any
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: bearing on what happens in live game action. So there
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: it is, the goat, the friend of the podcast, the
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: new records center in the NFL. With that sixty six
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: yard field goal, Justin Tucker giving his thoughts to us,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: case is closed. Mike. Yeah. Look, if if it's Prayer
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: or it's Tucker, you don't even have to even ask.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Those are the two guys that can make the claim
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: that icing doesn't matter because you're not even gonna bother
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: icing Tucker and Prayer. Obviously it was good for there,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: So it makes sense to hear that from the goat
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: of all kickers and Justin Tucker. Once again, if you
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: missed episode on field goal Posts, go back and take
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: a listen. It was awesome. But for coaches, though, ice
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: get kicker just one way that they can make sure
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: that that game doesn't go into the locker room with
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: time outs in their pocket. One of the cardinal sins
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: of coaching. Icing has become so commonplace that not doing
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: it is more likely to get called out in a
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: postgame pressure. So In Falcon's head coach Mike Smith said,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: we've been two for two on our icing. I know
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: that somebody got the statistics out there that it probably
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: doesn't help. I can just speak to the experiences that
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: I've had and it definitely has worked for us. So
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: add you got one head coach that has done it
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: before that says, you know what, icing is something that
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: we're going to continue to do because we've had success
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: with it. Alright, Fine, whatever makes you feel that you
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: can sleep best at night. However, if you want to
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: feel like you've used all your time outs, you've thrown
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: everything at it, you've given it every attempt. Great, all right,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: what's the supreme measuring stick? For all football. If you
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: tell me that it's a video game, if you tell
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: me it's Madden, yeah, I remember I don't play video games,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: so that's fine. So yet we're still friends. I don't
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: know how that's possible, but all right, so everything centers
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: around Madden, right, Like I think about my childhood, I
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: think about my days in college. Just what you learn
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: about the game when you're hitting those buttons. All right,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: final note here, because I know there's a ton of
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: gamers out there that are probably listening to this pod,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: and I know what that industry. It's been exploding. So
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: how about this Madden Football the video game is actually
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: added a feature that allows for icing the kicker. The
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: data and we've laid it out. Add the data actually
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: says maybe there's not much of a difference, but tell
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: you what, in the Madden Football game, it actually makes
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: the kick a little bit more difficult. So and it's
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: just like the most Unmike Yam thing ever to say,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: don't go with the numbers. You do know that Madden's
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: not reality. What are you talking about? They got the
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: players and the names, and I can drove that's that
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: is reality. That's how I roll. So I'm icing the kickers,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: add and I don't know if you would either, but
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: you've been around on enough people. And look, you said
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: this at the beginning of this episode that if you're
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: getting paid to play, and you're a professional athlete, shouldn't
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: you be tough enough to not have icing affect you.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: There's the human element, which is exactly why I'm not
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: a fan of it. Like I I just don't think
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: it makes a difference. And if anything, the numbers tell
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: us that icing gives them more time. Not only the numbers,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: but justin Tucker tells us that icing gives you a
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: little bit more time. I think that when you have time,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: you can take a breath, you can slow things down,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: and if you just have to rush out there and
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: do it, something might be missed. So if I'm a
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: head coach, I am not icing the opposing kicker, And
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: if I'm a head coach, I'm never in a game
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: that's close enough where you know the kicker could beat
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: me in the last five seconds. Oh wow, Okay, supreme
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: confidence there. Well, let's play each other in Madden. I'll
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: be icing you all day and you're gonna be making
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: any of those kicks. But We would love to hear
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: from you guys about this, because as much as I
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: feel like the numbers tell one story, there's the whole
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: psychology around it. And it speaks to one of our
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: other episodes too, right on fourth down and going for
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: it on fourth down? Does it make sense to go
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: and do it? The numbers actually say that you should.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: There is psychological time add time at time out. How'd
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: that go for you, Mike? I was just pausing. I
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: was like, I didn't know you were stopping the record.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: I didn't know if this was like a real deal
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: or not. No, I'm not stopping the record, Mike. That
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: was the whole point. I was icing you. Oh so
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: it's all good. Now I'm gonna go out and stumble
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: and fumble to make my point stronger that icing actually
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: does work as opposed to trying to be a smooth
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: host on this podcast. I'm screwed either way. But look,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the numbers, at least on fourth down show that going
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: for it you're probably gonna be more successful. And yet
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: at the same time, there's a psychological effects surrounding it.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: And I think when it comes to Ice and the Kickers,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: the numbers say, you know what, it's not going to
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: make a difference. But if I'm on the sideline and
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: I think I got one last little bullet in the
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: chamber that might help my team win, and it's Ice
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: and the Kicker, Damn right, I'm calling time out to
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: try to make that work. And maybe some people are
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: calling me crazy and say, hey, Mike, the numbers sell
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: one story. But I'd love to hear from some of
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: our listeners about this. We've been getting great feedback on
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: social media. On Twitter, people can firing off questions to
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: us at a King Kabala, at my thunderscore Yam. You
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: can use the hashtag NFL explained And if you think
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: that Icing the Kickers actually weren't, we would love to
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: hear from you. It doesn't work, But anyway, everybody, thanks
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: for joining us once again. That is Icing the Kicker Explained.
• 24:27
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